Another doctrinal issue is that of how salvation is to be attained. The catholic view was that it could be attained in a number of ways. Including pilgrimages, charitable deeds, indulgences and repenting from sin. The Protestants believed in Justification by faith, God would know if you had done wrong. At Trent they accepted the catholic view of sin and rejected the Protestant view. If the protestant view had been accepted then there would have been a direct threat on the Catholic Church, as no sacraments would have been needed.
The final major doctrinal issue was that of the Sacraments. The Catholics believing there were seven sacraments; baptism, Eucharist, penance, confirmation, matrimony, extreme unction and ordination. The Protestants only had two sacraments, they were baptism and Eucharist. However there was a distinct difference between the Eucharist of the Catholic Church and the Eucharist of the Protestant Church. The Protestants believed that the bread and wine was only a symbol for the body and blood of Jesus, the Catholics believed that it was actually the body and blood. It was decided at Trent that there were to be all seven sacraments, and they were officially given the name “The Seven Sacraments”. The Protestants were unhappy as the Bible only mentioned the two they believed in. Charles V was very despondent that the Catholics had got their own way on all of these three major points.
One of the main points that needed to be clarified at the Council of Trent was the defining of doctrine. This is what Paul believed should be the first thing to be done, then everything else could be sorted out from this. Therefore in Paul’s reign as Pope he took major steps towards the defining of the churches teachings. This occurred in the first period of December 1545 to September1549, in which there were eight sessions. There was also some defining of the doctrine in the second period when Julius III was Pope.
Discipline was another issue that had to be sorted out at the Council of Trent. However there were very little short term effects on discipline, over time though discipline does improve. It does take time for there to be a Seminary in each parish. The council does though set a new expectation for bishops. Prior to the Council of Trent bishops focused on making money and they were often pluralists and absentees. There were now new expectations, and they carried out normal jobs that they should have done before, this became normal. The bishop was now solely responsible for ordinations in his diocese, and he was instructed to visit local parishes regularly. Also diocese synods were set up to discuss issues of reform or doctrine, where leading members of the clergy met. Trent really strengthens the role of Bishops, there role is now seen as a pastoral role. Some bishops do exemplify new roles, for example Carlo Borromeo, Bishop of Milan.
The papacy was affected by the Council of Trent; it confirmed the nature of the papacy. The powers of the papacy had been enhanced by Trent as it had full power to interpret and implement Tridentate Confession of faith, which sharply summarised Catholic teaching.
The education of the clergy was also important, it needed to be improved. Prior to the council the clergy were poorly educated, often not knowing what they were teaching. Therefore the council made lasting and significant provisions for the education of the clergy. The establishment of seminaries helped increase the education the clergy received. However the council did nothing to involve the laity in their educational provisions. Also the religious orders that were becoming involved in missionary work had provided much of the impulsion for reform, were largely ignored.
The council clearly defined the differences of Protestantism and Catholicism. The rate of spread of Protestantism does decrease due to Council of Trent, this helped to boost the confidence of the Catholics. It is clear by 1552 that it would be impossible for there to be any compromise with the Protestants in the Catholic religion. This is because by this time the council had already adopted definitions of the faith. The spread of Catholicism was a major threat for the Popes of the time, and so it was important that they did slow down the spread of Protestantism as otherwise it would threaten the catholic religion.
Overall the council made lasting and significant provisions for the education of the clergy. The conservative nature of the Catholic Church had been confirmed. The Catholic Church was now a much centralised institution and the Pope was firmly the head of the church. No general council was called for a further 300 years after Trent, this showed that this council must have incurred a certain degree of success. The papacy was confirmed to be essentially Italian, and the Pope for the next 400 years was Italian. Trent was the catalyst to reform after 1563, there was important business such as the production of a catholic reform after the closure of Trent was different from that before 1545. After 1563 reform was more positive and forward thinking. The decrees of Trent often took a long time to actually take effect and there were vast regional differences in the effectiveness of the legislation. The Catholic Church had started to become a static institution that was not going to move with the times.
Lauren Plüss
