In the late 1300s, three men claimed to be Pope at the same time (known as the Avignon Papacy) and stirred up plenty of controversy. That ended when the Roman Catholic Church’s Council of Constance convened in modern-day Austria on November 5, 1414. In addition to selecting a new pope, they officially cursed John Wycliffe of Oxford, England, for his translation of the Bible into English and condemned Jan (John) Hus to death for his beliefs that were contrary to the Church’s teaching on Scripture. Hus felt every believer should be able to read the Bible for themselves.
