A marked distinction between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church did not begin until the early 1500's when Martin Luther, a discerning catholic monk, noticed discrepencies between the way the Roman Catholic Church was practicing Christianity and the Bible's prescription for practicing the faith. Over the next several years the Protestant Reformation picked up pace and a major rift formed between protestants and catholics. Before the Reformation, the Catholic Church had been the dominant Church evolving its structures and traditions from the early days of church history. It could be argued that the Catholic Church rose to prominence when the Roman Emporer Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 320's AD.