And the Church is more about closeness to God, not temporal art appreciation.
The middle class and leisure time allowed the art to develop and be appreciated.
When capitalism is introduced, there is always a “bloom” within one generation. To ascribe it to the Church, you’re talking a thousand year lead time. Doesn’t make sense.
Considering the north being largely untouched by the muslim expansion, if the church brought about the Renaissance, you would’ve seen it in what’s now Germany, and much earlier.
The Renaissance was not that gradual.
If not for schools established by the Church/Carolingians/Holy Roman Empire there would be little Roman and even less Greek writings for the Italians to study. The renaissance is more than wealth or art, it is the rediscovery of ancient Greek writings, math, and science; the application of Scholastic methods; and the unique “commune” city-states that existed in Italy. They all played a part. Christianity can not be dismissed, it was essential.