The Catholic Church And The Counter-Reformation

The Catholic Church has experienced numerous reforms that have impacted the Catholic faith and still do so today. The sixteenth century in Europe was characterized historically in the past by the religious disturbance known as the Reformation, with the attention usually focusing on Martin Luther and the other Protestant reformers who broke from the established Catholic church. The Council of Trent was founded by Paul III and helped to bring much-needed reform to the Catholic church. This was done through refining the Church’s structure, fixing errors and marshalling its forces for the years ahead. The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic reawakening beginning with the Council of Trent, which met at various times between 1545 until

All the Protestant interpretations of Communion were condemned, and transubstantiation which is the belief that the bread and wine become in substance with the body and blood of Christ was reaffirmed by the Council of Trent. In article 5 from the Tridentine Creed states “During mass the priest offers a new sacrifice and that the bread and wine are physically transformed into Christ 's body, blood, soul, and divinity” Concurring with this statement one is simply agreeing to receive jesus’ body and blood by bread and wine, combined with the soul and divinity of our lord Jesus Christ. Article 5 continues to be lived on in the lives of Catholics today during mass. Trent also offered considerable teaching on the sacraments. It affirmed that the Eucharist sacrament was foremost among them. It taught that the Eucharist is sacrificial in nature and that Jesus is “really, truly, substantially present” in the consecrated bread and

Indulgences are payments in coin to a priest for the purpose of relief from guilt of sins, release from purgatory and assurance of a place in heaven. Luther found in sacred writing no support for indulgences, and he was convinced that indulgences were of no worth to a sinner as only God could forgive the sins of those who had faith in Jesus and hence spread this heresy. All the Church could say, and all it ever did say, was that temporal punishment would be reduced. The Tridentine Creed states “I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.” The Council of Trent verifies the Catholic teaching that indulgences can benefit Catholic people as they pay for penalties on earth which if unpaid may punish them and be paid later on in Purgatory. This is represented in the creed as “use of them is wholesome to Christian