The Council of Trent and the Jesuits

The Council of Trent

The Roman Catholic Church Response to the Protestant Demand for Reformation of the Church (1545-1563)

As early as November 1518, Martin Luther had appealed from the authority of Pope Leo X to a general council to settle the Indulgence Controversy. That key question raised by this demand was: Where does the highest authority in the Church reside? Was it located in the Papacy or in Church Councils that were called to deal with critical issues in the Church?

The Council of Trent was called by Paul Ill who was pope from 1534 to 1549 and began on 13^th December 1545, right before Martin Luther's death, and continued until its final adjournment on 4 December 1563. It was considered the nineteenth ecumenical council by the Roman Catholic Church.

The history of the council is thus divided into three distinct periods: 1545–49, 1551–52 and 1562–63. During the second period, the Protestants present asked for renewed discussion on points already defined and for bishops to be released from their oaths of allegiance to the Pope. When the last period began, all hope of conciliating the Protestants was gone and the Jesuits had become a strong force.

Power was officially concentrated in a single person who alone had the authority to determine the answers. In declaring the Pope of Rome to be the Vicar of Christ on earth, the Council of Trent had officially given to the Bishop of Rome authority that the Scriptures teach is to be held exclusively by Jesus Christ.

The bishops who attended the council meetings insisted that they vote as individuals rather than as a block-country vote and as there were 187 Italian bishops, 32 Spanish, 28 French and 2 German the Italians vastly outnumbered the other three countries put together! As such what was to be passed at Trent was what the pope accepted as being acceptable to him.

The main objectives of the council were twofold, although there were other issues that were also discussed:

1. To condemn the principles and doctrines of Protestantism and to clarify the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church on all disputed points. It is true that the emperor intended it to be a strictly general or truly ecumenical council, at which the Protestants should have a fair hearing. But the refusal to give the Protestants the right to vote and the consternation produced by the success of Maurice in his campaign against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1552 effectually put an end to Protestant cooperation.

2. To effect a reformation in discipline or administration. The obvious corruption in the administration of the Church was one of the numerous causes of the Reformation. Charles V had wanted abuses looked at first in an attempt to please the Protestants and hopefully tempt them back to the church. Once they were back they could look at doctrine. Paul III did not want this as reforms could financially damage him and concessions could diminish his authority. The nations were not paying "Peter’s pence" anymore, which today we call "foreign aid."

 The result was that two separate sections dealt with reform and doctrine simultaneously.

3. The Church is the ultimate interpreter of Scripture. Also, the Bible and Church Tradition (the tradition that made up part of the Catholic faith) were equally and independently authoritative.

4. The relationship of faith and works in salvation was defined, following controversy over Martin Luther's doctrine of "justification by faith alone".

5. Other Roman Catholic practices that drew the ire of reformers within the Church, such as indulgences, pilgrimages, the veneration of saints and relics, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary were strongly reaffirmed, though abuses of them, such as the sale of indulgences, were forbidden. Decrees concerning sacred music and religious art, though inexplicit, were subsequently amplified by theologians and writers to condemn many types of Renaissance and medieval styles and iconographies, impacting heavily on the development of these art forms.

The doctrinal decisions of the council are divided into decrees (decreta), which contain the positive statement of the conciliar dogmas, and into short canons (canones), which condemn the dissenting Protestant views with the concluding "anathema sit" ("let him be anathema").

the Council of Trent is the American foreign policy of today. That’s what’s going on in Serbia and Bosnia. It’s the Council of Trent—the Jesuits using the American Air Force to bomb those orthodox people to smithereens.