Many Protestant churches will be observing 26 October as Reformation Sunday. Almost 600 years ago, on the eve of All Saints (that's Hallowe'en) 31 October 1517, tradition says the Reverend Dr Martin Luther posted on the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenburg, Germany a list of 95 "Theses" (points for debate) in which he objected to the fact that Pope Leo X was promoting a vastly expanded sale of indulgences. An indulgence was a pardon by which you were supposed to be able to buy someone's soul out of purgatory. Those indulgences were not just bad theology; they were also a fraud, because their real purpose was to raise money for the construction of St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Luther posted his 95 Theses because it was not only unfair to have German peasants paying for Italian luxury, but it was also giving those German peasants a wrong-headed notion of salvation. Within months, Luther's Theses had been translated and circulated throughout Europe, and within a decade Luther found himself organizing a protesting or "protestant" Church. A "reformed" Church.
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