The Response of Catholic Church on Protestant Reformation in Northern Germany

In the second decade of the sixteenth century, a powerful movement known as the Protestant reformation began in northern Germany. This movement was born out of widespread discontent with the reigning Catholic church. Though initially slow to respond to the challenges of the reformation, the Catholic church eventually responded in a vigorous manner to the threats of spreading Protestantism.

The Protestant reformation began in 1517 when Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the door the castle church in Wittenberg. Luther was an Augustinian monk and a professor at the University of Wittenberg, where he studied the bible intensely. Luther's main area of study was salvation and how it is achieved. Through his studies, he came to the conclusion that "good works do not make the sinner acceptable to God, but rather God's acceptance of the sinner prompts goods works."

This concept of salvation by faith alone was contradictory to the Catholic doctrine, which stated that sacramental acts and charitable deeds were instrumental to insure one's salvation. Luther also dismissed the idea that the pope was God's authority on earth and rejected all papal authority. In 1515, a Dominican monk named John Tetzel was sent to Germany to sell indulgences. This infuriated Luther, who spoke out in his sermons against the sale of indulgences and purchasing release from purgatory. The abuse of indulgences acted as a catalyst and prompted Luther to post his ninety-five theses, an event that would spark changes in Christianity across Europe and lead to many years of reform.

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Within weeks of posting his theses in Wittenberg, Luther's work had been reproduced and was being read throughout the Holy Roman Empire. The printing press was a relatively new invention at the time and no one was prepared for how quickly Luther's ideas would spread. The Catholic church was especially slow to adjust to the new technology. Luther realized that the printing press would be a powerful tool to aid his cause and began publishing more of his work. These works spread as rapidly as his theses and were very popular because they had been printed in the local vernacular. Over the next few years, Luther would publish more than four hundred works. Emperor Charles V finally put an end to it, banning Luther's publications in 1512.

Seventeen years later, in 1534, the Catholic church began its own movement to deal with the threat of Protestantism. This movement is known as the counter-reformation. One key reason for the success of the counter-reformation was the creation of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit order. This order was established in 1534 by Ignatious Loyola and offered complete obedience to the papal authority. In return, the papacy called on the Jesuits to establish schools to educate people in the faith. The Jesuits also played a large role in missionary work, as Francis Xavier helped to spread Catholicism to Asia and others regained areas of Europe that had converted to Protestantism.

The centerpiece of the counter-reformation was the establishment of the Council of Trent. The opening of the council, which met in Trent in northern Italy, occurred in 1545, during the pontificate of Pope Paul III, and its three meetings were spread out over eighteen year. During these meetings, the assembled churchmen would focus on two key issues: the restoration of internal church discipline and the propagation of traditional church doctrine. Internal reform was a high priority, as there had been significant abuses occurring within the church, such as the selling of indulgences and clerical offices. Many clergy members had taken mistresses and nepotism was also becoming a problem. To halt the worst abuses, the sale of indulgences was prohibited. An 'Index of Prohibited Books' was also published in 1564, effectively banning all heretical and Protestant literature. In the years that followed, a new catechism, breviary, and missal were released.

The Council of Trent made no concessions to the Protestantism doctrine. The council upheld the belief that there were seven sacraments and renounced the Protestant notion only two existed. The Catholic belief in transubstantiation was reaffirmed by the following statement:

"Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and his holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."

In addition, the council maintained that the Mass would not change; all Mass would be performed in Latin (Protestants had been worshipping in their own language) and attendance was compulsory.

The council also declared that Luther's concept of justification by faith alone was flawed and that good works were absolutly necessary to gain entry tro the kingdom of Heaven.

The Council of Trent was not designed to heal the rift forming between European Christians, but to strengthen the Roman Catholic Church in opposition of Protestantism. The church that emerged for the Council of Trent was highly centralized under a newly vigorous papacy and prepared to fight for its place in an increasingly pluralistic world.

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