From 1517, with the publication of the 95 theses of Martin Luther against the Catholic clergy, the RemodelingProtestant it became a historic event of great proportions, triggering a series of transformations in all spheres: political, social, cultural and economic. The Catholic Church, in the decades that followed after the onslaught of the reformers, fell to make its own reform, that is, the one that is called Counter-Reform or, as the historian called HubertJedin, a RemodelingCatholic. A good part of the resolutions of the Catholic Reformation were taken in the CouncilinTrent, held between the years 1545 and 1563.
An ecumenical council consists of a meeting of the highest level of Catholic clergy to deliberate on issues that can be both dogmatic, that is, issues strictly related to the dogmas (truths) of the Catholic faith, as well as pastoral, related to the way of conducting the behavior of Catholic Christians and proceeding in (missionary) processes of conversion of new faithful. Evidently, with the exponential growth of Protestantism in the 16th century and the worsening of the political situation As a result, the Catholic Church decided to hold a council in the city of Trent to discuss such situation.
Who was at the head of the Council, of course, was the Pope Paul III, which intended, above all, to reaffirm the traditional values of Catholicism. One of the main points was the maintenance of the sacraments, such as the Eucharist and the confession. In addition, the liturgical practice, especially the Mass, guided by the Roman Missal and said in Latin, would be preserved. These guidelines rivaled Protestantism, especially that of orientation. Calvinist.
Another important point of the resolutions of the Council of Trent was the reaffirmation that the priests, the saints and the Virgin Mary had a fundamental and indispensable role in the mediation between the faithful and the deity Trinitarian. Through the mediation of saints and priests, the faithful manage, according to Catholic tradition, to better direct their spiritual life and, consequently, the search for salvation. This also rivaled Protestantism, given that the doctrines of predestination and the defense of autonomy in the interpretation of scriptures were sore points of Protestant argumentation.
The Council also regulated the action of priests and condemned a good part of practices considered abusive and that had already been denounced by the reformers, such as the sale of indulgences. In addition, the Council prohibited the reading of certain works considered inappropriate for the Catholic public, such as “The Praise of Madness”, by Erasmus of Rotterdan, and “Decameron”, by Boccaccio. These and other works were included in the IndexLibrorumProhibitory
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/concilio-trento.htm
