The Catholic

Reformation
The Counter-Reformation
 Pope Paul III

• 1534 elected Pope

• Determined to correct
abuses of Church.

• Enabled the Church to take

the “spiritual offensive.”
 1. “Clergy
Cleanup”

• Bishops to preach regularly & keep eye on

clergy
• Clergy to be educated, to be neatly dressed, &
(strictly) celibate
 2. “Spread
the word”
Paul III authorizes a new
monastic order: The Society
of Jesus
Igantius Loyola
 The Society of
Jesus
• Founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540
• Jesuits were organized as a “spiritual army.”
• They were above all educators
• “Give us a boy at the age of seven and he will be
with us for life.”
When Ignatius died in 1556 there were 35 Jesuit
colleges across Europe. Two hundred years later, there
were more than 800 in Europe, Asia, and Latin
America. They constituted the largest system of
education before the modern era of public schooling
and the first truly international one.
3. “Find the enemy”

• Roman Inquisition revitalized

• Church court w/ the responsibility to
investigate & combat heresy
4. “Call a meeting”

• International Church Council at Trent

• Investigated the charges against the Church
• “What are we doing wrong?”
 The Council of
Trent
•Reaffirmed traditional Catholic
doctrine
• Salvation only possible through faith and
good work
• All 7 sacraments are valid
• Doctrine of transubstantiation correct
• No individual had right to private
interpretation of the Bible
 The Council of
Trent

• Latin remained official language

• Sale of indulgences ended.
• The practice of simony ended.
• Reestablished Index of Prohibited Books.