The period called the Counter -Reformation, spread in Europe since 1560, when the highest authority of the Catholic Church was exercised by the Pope Pius IV, and culminated in the year 1648 to the end of the War of the Thirty Years began as a religion conflict and ended up involving many European countries, even for non-religious reasons.
It was called Counter-Reformation because it was the way in which the Catholic Church reacted to the progress of the Protestant Reformation that Martin Luther had initiated during the 15th century, producing the rupture between the German monk and Catholicism in 1517, when Luther made a series of denunciations against the members of the church like the sale of indulgences as a requirement to obtain the forgiveness of sins, was against a large part of the sacraments (only allowed Baptism and the Eucharist) and ignored the authority of the Pope, praising the salvation of souls by virtue of faith and not of actions.
The Catholic Church was forced to rebuild itself doctrinally and spiritually against the new Christian currents. In this sense, the Counter-Reformation is a reaction against the Protestant Reformation.
Catholics did not accept the Protestant doctrines of Luther, the free interpretation of the Gospels, the rejection of the cult of the Virgin Mary or the saints, the opposition to ostentation in the churches and the non-acceptance of purgatory.
Between 1545 and 1563 the Council of Trent was summoned, its proposals were the following:
- The sacred writings were to be interpreted according to the tradition of the church and not freely as proposed by the Protestants.
- Dogmas were fixed (especially the dogma of the trinity and the free will of human beings to choose between good and evil).
- To achieve salvation, faith is necessary and lead a Christian life based on good works
- The religious had to live in community and could not accumulate goods.
- There was a reform of the religious orders.
In addition to the new proposals of the Council, the Catholic Church promoted the formation of new orders. In this sense, the Order of the Capuchins and the Society of Jesus, among others, were founded. The Jesuits were the ideological and spiritual arm to oppose Protestantism (they founded missions throughout the world and spread the Catholic faith).
