I thought the medieval church was adept at funnelling money towards the church - that's why so many Roman Catholic churches are dripping in gold and jewels. There was also the racket of them selling "indulgences" - salvation for a price.
> Luther did an excellent job of correcting that at the expense of a schism.
Well, that was pretty much at the end of the medieval period, so for the vast majority of medieval times, the church let poor people starve and die whilst hoarding money, power and land. The church only really started to embrace charity and social care from around the 12th century or so. If we say that the medieval period was approximately 500AD to 1500AD, then it's a stretch to claim that the church was a bastion of social care.
