With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church took a negative stance on popular theatrical performances. Which of these
sentences explains why the Catholic Church looked down upon such performances in the Middle Ages? At least one reason for increased interest in the Catholic Church was the effort by church officials to bring people back to the church.
At the time, actors were seen as people with bad morals. Performances supposedly drew bad crowds and sent immoral messages.
However, these performances entertained illiterate and uneducated audiences, which encouraged the church to incorporate theater into its teachings.
Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the arts from the Classical era, particularly performing arts, were disparaged, and in some cases, banned, due to their perceived irreverence towards God and His creations. Additionally, because theatrical performances originated from pagan authors, the Church sought to suppress these works from public awareness and forbade clergy from allowing itinerant actors to perform in their areas. It wasn't until the 900s A.D that the Church began to recognize the educational potential of theater for Europe's largely illiterate populace, thus religious-themed theater was revived during this late Medieval era. However, prior to this, plays and theater were regarded as blasphemous, and with many actors hailing from Roman or Greek backgrounds, they were deemed to have pagan roots, facing threats of excommunication for performing anywhere in Europe. The correct statement is: At that time, actors were perceived as individuals with poor morals...
