priests used to be the smartest people your local area, with good character. most, almost all of the good priests died during the black death providing alms to the suffering, so the requirements to be a priest dropped tremendously. then you got fuck-ups to plug the gaps that gate-kept for other fuck ups, and then you get the protestants. also the black death liberalized the economy (liberal means giving the poor and smart more options) and thus the renaissance.
United States