In 1518 the city of Zurich was looking for someone to lead the congregation of one of the main churches in the city, Grossmünster, and Zwingli was selected, not only for his religious work but also for his humanist writings.
From his new posting Zwingli developed a theology based on the work of Erasmus but without following Luther. He criticized corruption practices within the Church, naming individuals, the veneration of saints and objects and in particular the right of the Church to receive 10% of taxes collected by the State (a practice that still goes on in many countries). This last point did not make him any friends among the Church.
A few years later, in 1522, he broke the fast of Lent (Catholics are not meant to eat meat in the weeks before Easter). Then he requested for the need to celibacy (no marriage, no sex) in priests to be abolished (he was secretly married). Slowly, Zwingli’s ideas to reform the Catholic religion led to a separate branch of Protestantism. The mass was changed into a communal worshipping session and Church properties were secularized and made into hospitals and schools.
As Zwingli’s new religion spread, some of the cantons formed an alliance against it leading to war (1529) and splitting up the original Swiss Confederation into Catholics and Reformists (Protestants). A split that would have future consequences.
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