What was the Council of Trent

Along the history, the religion It has been an element that has modified the world of the time, the decisions that were made in front of it being very important for the future of the world. One of these religious events was the Council of Trent, which completely changed the religious world of the time. Due to the great importance it had, today in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to talk about what was the Council of Trent so that you better understand what happened in our country.

In the years before the Council, a large part of the ecclesiastical world thought that the Church had to start a reform, because they considered that there were many elements in the Church that had to be changed.

At the V Lateran Council, dated 1517, the debate on numerous reforms took place, but important issues such as the problems of the Protestants in Germany were not dealt with. As a result of this, Martin Luther she published her 95 thesis, in which she criticized many norms of the Catholic faith, and sought to reform them, the main one being opposition to the figure of the Pope.

All of this prompted the Germans, both Protestant and Catholic, to demand that a Council be held to discuss the issues but Pope Clement VII objected because Luther did not want the Pope to participate in the Council. In part, as a consequence of papal opposition, King Charles V, who defended the Catholic faith, he invaded and sacked the Vatican since it was considered that the Council had to be summoned to stop the growing influence of Luther. But even so the Council could not be celebrated, since even if Clement VII accepted, the acceptance of the monarchs and King Francis I of France, great enemy of Charles V, refused to it.

After the death of Clement VII, his successor Paul III convened the council since he believed that the only way to unite Christendom and reform the Church was to call this meeting. Protestant ideas were increasingly accepted, partly because of the corruption of the ecclesiastics and the excuses for not convening the Council were less and less.

The Council of Trent was an event that lasted a long time, being able to observe several different phases, depending on which Pope was in command at that time. Its beginning took place in 1545, and lasted until 1563. The process can be divided into three phases, depending on which Pope held the title during these years they were: Paul III, Julius III and Pius IV.

The first phase is that of Paul III, where the first ten sessions of the Council were held. The topics that had the most presence in this first phase were dogma and reform, although many other topics were discussed. Some of these topics were the following:

• The Holy Scriptures were said to be the source of faith.
• The Vulgate was considered the best translation of the Bible.
• A decree on Original Sin was created.
• Decree of Justification, which was based on the fact that Christians could not justify their actions with Christ.
• Decrees on the sacraments.

After these first sessions the Council stopped for a time, but after the death of Paul III, his successor, Julius III, decided to continue it. The sessions of the Council that Julius III directed were from 11 to 16. During these sessions, not many actions were carried out, the main ones being the definition of the term “transubstantiation” and the decrees on penance and extreme unction. These sessions stopped after the fall of the King of France.

The Council would reconvene during the mandate of Pius IVThis stage being where the sessions were held from seventeen to twenty-five. The topics discussed were the following:

• The creation of a list of prohibited books.
• Decree on communion.
• Reform project.
• Doctrine of the Mass.
• Different reforms on the clergy.
• Reform of bishops and cardinals.

To conclude with this lesson on what the Council of Trent was, we must talk about the different consequences that the Council had to understand the great historical importance that this event has.

The consequences of the Council of Trent were numerous, some being of great significance for the history of mankind, and especially for religious history in general. Some of these consequences are as follows:

• They faced the Catholic counter-reformation, the actions that were carried out in the Council, against the Protestant Reformation. The Protestants did not agree with the measures carried out at the Council, which created a greater division between the two groups.
• I know they abolished the greatest abuses of the Church.
• The Church maintained its differences with the Protestant theses, although some members of the Council of the Council agreed with the ideas of Luther.
• Equal authority was maintained between the Church and clergy.
• Some Catholic practices were reaffirmed, such as the pilgrimages.
• Some actions in the sacraments were modified.

In conclusion it could be said that thanks to the Council of Trent the Catholic Church was reformed, but not enough to convince the members of the Protestant Reformation, who little by little separated from the traditional Church.