In this I'd just like to point out the similarities between Papal corruption in it's hay day and the corruption within the Twelver Maraji'.
For those who don't know the Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination mainly being present in; South America, the Mediteranean and Europe. It was originally the Christian community (excluding the Greek Orthodox Rite) until the 14th and 15th centuries (hence the name 'Catholic' which is a Greek word that means universal).
What you might not know is what actually pushed people to become so enraged with the Papacy that they would simply split off. Well it happened because the Pope wanted to build a new grand Basilica for St. Peter in Rome (this is the current Basilica we have today). This would be phenomenally expensive and the Pope needed money. So they introduced something called "indulgences". Which essentially meant that if you donated a certain amount of money to the Church, you would advance straight from purgatory to Heaven. This of course made it very easy for wealthy landowners to simply give money to the Church and they would go to heaven. The Church justified this through something called "Apostolic Succession", this was the idea that there is an unwritten oral tradition going back to the Apostles that has been past down to the Pope and the Bishops. In reality this was a justification for introducing innovations into Christianity. This understandably angered the Christian laity so much that when Martin Luther posted his demands for reform on his church's doors he quickly gained a lot of popular support.
This has a lot of parallels with the Twelver concept of Khumus whereby it is compulsory to donate to your Marja' if you are able to. This money is then spent on building shrines, Da'wah TV Stations, Masajid in other countries, Ashura Celebrations and maintenance. Rather than things that are heavily emphasised in the Qur'an like freeing slaves, providing for orphans and giving to the poor. The justifications were similar likewise, all the Twelver Maraji' had to do was to make up a Hadith for your fatwa.
The Catholic Church is also famed for its brutality in crushing dissent. Many reformers had come before Luther but they had all been branded as Heretics and many burned alive. This is similar to the way Twelvers handle dissent. Anyone who disagrees on issues is labelled a Wahabi, Nasibi or Zionist Agent and on many occasions they are hanged by the Iranian regime or killed by Shi'i militias, with the Maraji' they are simply detained.
Though however the Twelvers also have a few qualities in common with the Protestants. The Protestant cause was mainly championed by rulers who wanted more power for the state rather than the Papacy. This could also be said about Shi'ism being mainly championed by dynasties like the Buyids and the Safavids. The religious authorities would leave them alone provided they kept on championing their cause (hence why the Safavids didn't rule by the Shari'ah and implemented their own. Quite a coincidence that Majlisi and other Twelver scholars had nothing but praise for the Safavids then). This essentially made them whores for their states and any dissent with this was crushed brutally (such as the Akhbaris for the Twelvers and the Quakers for the Protestants).
In conclusion Shi'ism is very similar to the corrupt elements of Christianity in the way it establishes and practise it's religions. Anyone who's studied Shi'ism and the history of Christianity will understand why there is something very wrong with Shi'ism and why either it must change, or cease to exist and from how things are going in Iran, the latter is becoming much more of a reality.
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