The Counter Reformation and the Catholic Church The introduction of Martin Luther and John Calvin in the 16th century brought with it the beginning of the Reformation. The Catholic Church’s response to the Reformation demonstrated the Church’s reaction to Renaissance overall. The Catholic Church needed to draw away all the negativity with a Counter Reformation. To differentiate itself and condemn the principles of Protestantism, Pope Paul III created a council known as the Council of Trent. Also, the Jesuits combined the ideas of traditional monastic discipline with a dedication to teach and preach. For the Catholic Church to remain strong, many changes were needed. A change was needed, else the Church's power and the influence …show more content…
Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent was described as the personification of the Counter-Reformation. As mentioned in Document 5, “It is the church’s position to interpret holy Scriptures. Those who break these laws shall be punished with the penalties by law established.” The Council persecuted those who disobeyed and went against the official doctrine of the church. The clergy were overly strict about their imposed laws to prevent even more followers from breaking away from the Church at that time. Luther's impact can be seen here, as well, since he told people to read the bible for themselves, which was exactly what the church didn't want. The Church feared any sort of threat that could rise against them. As Document 4 states, “I recognize the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church as the Mother and mistress of all churches; and I vow and swear true obedience to the Roman …show more content…
Religion especially was one of their main concerns. The pope was in charge of what the Society of Jesus believed, as stated in Document 1, “All the members shall realize that this society is fighting for God under faithful obedience to one most holy lord and the pope.” Whatever the pope kept telling the people must have been true because that’s what God wanted, since he was the one with the direct connection with God. The Counter Reformation could also be seen as a political movement because of all the laws that were enforced on the people, similar to a
The Protestant Reformation had a huge impact in all Europe in the sixteen century, but which ones were the factors that lead to it? It is very important to highlight that the European Christianity was falling into a noticeable corruption of its popes and some other high position members. Robbery, and even warriors were among of some factors that took the Cristian Church to a declining path. One of these examples was the Pope Julius II, which one won the nickname “the warrior pope” because he led armies against people. Furthermore, the church was not the only factor promoting this reformation, some other social changes were occurring with the masses in Europe; many of the peasants were being free especially in the western Europe.
On the other hand, the Counter-Reformation (in which the Catholic Church made reforms to encourage Protestants to return back to their faith) also encouraged exploration and colonization of the New World, because of its missionary efforts, such as the Society of Jesus. The Protestant Reformation broke the previous unity of European Christianity, and several Christian sects developed; the Church of England wished to eradicate a large number of these sects, however. From 1630 to 1642, approximately
The counter-reformation was Catholic Church’s response to the Protestant Reformation. The church fathers emphasized art rather than textbooks since most of the faithful were illiterate. They believed that the purpose of religious art was to teach and inspire the faithful.
Nevertheless Jesuits were a key role in the Counter-Reformation by being the voice of the Catholic church across the
Furthermore, the direct Counter Reformation only sought to convert people back. Priests preached, taught, and encouraged protestant areas to come back to catholicism and many did especially in Germany and Austria. The Society of Jesus created by Ignatius of Loyola further aided in educating unorthodox areas about catholicism, as the monks who were the members traversed the world and taught the catholic doctrine. The Roman Catholic Church saw Protestantism as a completely different doctrine proved when Luther was tried for heresy, therefore it was only logically to stabilize the uproar by improving the education, discipline, and authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, Saint Ignatius Loyola aided significantly in this process.
This excerpt is a list of several points taken from the Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a German friar, priest, and monk who dedicated his himself to a strict life style that included frequent fasting and prayer, pilgrimage, and religious studies. The Ninety-Five Theses listed criticisms of the Catholic Church regarding its fundamental method of worship and the validity of its practices involving indulgences, remission of punishment due to sin. Luther points out that the Catholic Church had become corrupted in selling indulgences and argues it was an extreme violation of the very purpose of an indulgence.
The Protestant Reformation began with a movement made by a monk simply to criticize and challenge the actions of the Church. From the disapproval of selling indulgence to the demand of equality, multiple forces have sparked the inception of the Protestant Revolution. Martin Luther’s decision to take public stand against the Church was revolutionary to the society. A movement for religious reforms, known as the Protestant Reformation, was born. Luther’s beliefs were soon adopted by and appealed to every levels of society.
In response to the Protestant Reformation, between the years of 1545-1563, the people of Trent constructed a council known as the Council of Trent. The main, intended purpose of the Council of Trent was to influence Protestants to return to the Catholic Church. The Catholics were determined to redefine the concepts of Catholicism in order to make them clearer than before, in hopes that this would make the Catholic Church more appealing. These actions created another movement that occurred during a similar time, known as the Counter Reformation. The Council of Trent was built in response to the Protestant Reformation; and because of this, it is known for being one of the most significant movements of the Counter Reformation.
The beginning of the 16th century brought with it the Reformation. The Catholic Church became challenged by Martin Luther and John Calvin. With nailing of the 95 theses on the Church doors, Luther began the Protestant Reformation. The counter-reformation was introduced in Europe to weaken the Protestant Reformation and rebuild the power of the Catholic Church through education, clergy reform, and spreading of the Catholic faith. In order for the Roman Catholic Church to regain its power, the R.C.C. had created laws for priests with the help of the Council of Trent and Loyola.
The Catholics believed the Pope was ordained by God therefore his authority was absolute. If his power was absolute then anyone who was challenging his power was a heretic and was disobeying God himself. Therefore the Catholics were very closed minded to the Reformers ideologies. Even though they thought this way, they should have taken the Reformation into consideration. They should have done so because the Pope being “ordained by God” is not one of the founding pillars in Christianity, nor is it in the Bible.
This mindset was shattered in Rome when word of Protestantism got out. The protestant system which called to, “ Purify the church and a belief that the Bible, not tradition, should be the sole source of spiritual authority” (History.com) The protestants created a system where the church would profit less from the people economically, and a system where the church and its symbols had less impact in the lives of the civilians. Because of rebellions and mass conversions, the counter-reformation was created to address the issues with the catholic church. Social upheaval and the rejection of catholicism from the northern Holy Roman Empire, sparked a change with the the Roman doctrine.
By the mid 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church had been ruling most of Europe for a thousand years. European society and politics had been framed around the church and the pope. The church had complete authority in the feudal society and authority over the monarchy. Papal Infallibility, which means that the since the pope was the voice of god, then he was true, was a reason for why the church had not been questioned or had been attacked. Using the church’s powers, the pope was able to control every detail of Europe.
The event we researched is called the Count. Ref. It could also be called the Catholic Reformation or Catholic Revival. The Count. ref. began with the formation of the Council of Trent, which was created by Pope Paul 111 in 1545.
It has to be understood that the Council of Trent was not meant for reformation but was a reaction to it. The Council of Trent launched guidebooks for the training of priests which were in use until Vatican II, warned against the relationships between Catholics and the Protestants, created an Index of forbidden books etc. There were leading theologians who had new ideas which were of challenge to the church and religion. They paved the way by articulating in a new ecclesial language even before the council did so. In some sense, it can be said that Pope John XXIII was only responding to such development and the aspect of allowing the Spirit's freshness and vitality to infuse the conservative Church of the 16th century.
This strong disagreement among Catholics led them to reform the church. The Renaissance influenced people to believe that the church was no longer the