In the Middle Ages the Roman Catholic church considered all the Christians of Europe to be within its fold. That unity and inclusiveness were shattered by the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In response to the Reformation, the church launched a major effort to reform itself, to combat the Protestant movement and reclaim lost territories, and to expand its missionary endeavors around the world. This reform is usually called Counter-Reformation. This term, however, is somewhat misleading because it suggests that the whole reform was only a reaction against Protestantism. It was, in fact, much more than that. (See also Luther; Reformation.)
Over the centuries there had been many attempts to revitalize the church and cleanse it of abuses and corruption. Many clergy and laymen denounced the church for its vast accumulation of wealth, the lax morality of the popes and clergy, the woeful ignorance of parish priests, corruptions of doctrine, low levels of devotional life, and the virtual sale of salvation in exchange for money.
Some reformers, Jan Hus and Girolamo Savonarola among them, were burned at the stake for their efforts. Others, such as Cardinal Ximénes de Cisneros in Spain, had great success in reforming monasteries and revitalizing education. Several new reformist monastic orders were founded. Among them were the Oratory of Divine Love, the Theatines, and the Capuchins in Italy and the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, in Spain. The Jesuit order, founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1539 and given its charter by Pope Paul III in 1540, became a zealous defender of Catholicism through its promotion of education, mission work, and its attempts to win back converts to Protestantism. (See also Hus; Loyola; Savonarola.)
Another tool the church used to fight the influence of Protestantism in its territories was the Roman Inquisition. This institution was established in 1542 by Pope Paul III and was similar in its operation to the earlier medieval and Spanish inquisitions. Its goal was the suppression of heresy, error, and false doctrine. (See also Inquisition.)
The surge of reform in the church had persisted for several decades before the popes made a solid commitment in its favor. Their reluctance is understandable: They were, after all, the guardians of the church’s traditions, doctrines, and practices. Widespread changes could threaten their authority and status. They were the first among equals in relation to all other bishops. They were, moreover, faced with an emergent nationalism and kings who sought to control the churches within their respective domains. And perhaps most significant of all, the popes were headquartered in Rome, surrounded by a vast entrenched bureaucracy and all the accumulated wealth of the church. They were willing to tolerate token reforms and changes, but unwilling at first to undertake wholesale renewal.
By the time of Paul III, who was pope from 1534 to 1549, the demands for reform were too intense and the Protestant threat too substantial for the church to delay housecleaning any longer. There were persistent demands for calling a council to deal with all of the church’s problems. Popes had never looked favorably upon councils because there was real difference of opinion in the church over whether a council had greater authority than a pope when it came to deciding and enforcing matters of doctrine and practice.
Paul III became convinced that only a council could deal with the crisis. He therefore convened the Council of Trent in northern Italy, which opened officially on Dec. 13, 1545. In spite of the diversity of views represented in the council, Paul III and his successors succeeded in dominating it. The results assured papal supremacy in the church.
The council met in three different sessions from 1545 to 1563. During its sessions the council succeeded in redefining its doctrines and in overhauling the institutional structure of the church. (See also church councils.)
Prior to the Reformation fairly great differences of opinion on many doctrines had been tolerated. The church could afford this so long as its own primacy and authority were not threatened. Now, however, in the face of the Lutheran and Reformed movements, doctrines were much more narrowly and rigidly defined. All the tenets of Protestantism were denounced as heresy. Martin Luther’s teaching on “justification by faith alone” was categorized as an error (see Lutheranism). The number of sacraments necessary for salvation was declared to be seven, not two as Luther and John Calvin had held. Tradition, along with the Bible, was accepted as a source of faith. These and every other doctrinal definition relating to the Reformation were clarified. The council also declared the Bible to consist of the Old Testament (including the Apocryphal books) and the New Testament (see Bible).
Among its administrative changes, the council decreed that a bishop could not hold more than one diocese and that he must live in the one over which he presided. Priests were warned against absenting themselves from their parishes. Education for the priesthood was vastly improved by the insistence that every diocese have a college or seminary. Bishops were given complete control of their dioceses and urged to visit all parishes on a regular basis.
To improve the participation of laymen, a new catechism was ordered to be prepared; preaching was to be in the language of the people; and the missal, or service book for the mass, was revised. The council commissioned a new version of the Bible and revised the breviary, the priests’ liturgical book containing the services and prayers for each day of the year.
By the end of the 16th century, many of the abuses that had led to the Reformation had been abolished, and the Roman church was able to win back many followers in Europe. But religious conflicts persisted, and in the next century the Thirty Years’ War laid waste to much of Europe (see Thirty Years’ War).