The Swiss Protestant reformer Huldrych Zwingli paved the way for the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland. (The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement that resulted in the establishment of a Christian religion separate from the Roman Catholic faith). Zwingli’s ideas had a profound and long-lasting influence on church-state relations in Swiss cantons (states in the Swiss Confederation) that adopted Protestantism. A contemporary of Martin Luther (1483–1546; see entry), the German priest who initiated the Reformation, Zwingli made significant contributions that permanently affected Western (non-Asian) civilization.