Question

What led to the shift of power away from Rome, the seat of the Catholic Church?
A:The Catholic Church was trying to embrace Protestantism.
B:The Catholic Church lost allies such as England, Denmark, and Sweden.
C:The Catholic Church tried to legalize witchcraft.
D:The Catholic Church tried to encourage corruption.

Answer 1

As countries became Protestant, Rome lost power. The church owned large amounts of land in most European countries. Part of the Reformation was local kings seizing the land and property of the church and establishing their own authority without the blessing of Rome.

Answer 2

C and D make absolute no sense so we can cross those out.. and now lets take a look at B I remember reading on the subject but I am almost positive that is not the right answer... so of process of elimination ... I would think picking A would be the best choice ... What do you think? @wwhitlock @totem

Answer 3

We don't have context for the question in that we don't know the time frame. Embracing protestantism is a recent development. For most of its history, the Roman church has greeted disent with excommunication, inquisition, burning at the stake and such.
The question uses the word "ally" in describing Protestant countries. More accurately it lost domination over those countries as they rejected papal supremacy.