How did the Council of Trent change Catholicism?

Answer 1

It changed the Catholic Church by making the interpretation of the Bible by the church final.

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Catholic AnswerThere have been twenty-one Ecumenical Councils of the Church in twenty centuries. Of that number, twenty have had to deal with heresies of various kinds. Of that twenty, perhaps the Council of Trent had to deal with the most insidious heresy yet - Protestantism. And, yet, unlike the nineteen previous Councils, Trent paved no new ground, defined no new doctrines, and, of them all, was far and away the most conservative Council the Church has ever held. It changed nothing about Catholicism but simply restated in very clear terms, the constant, unchanging Christian teaching of the Church, as it has believed for the previous fifteen centuries. It met for for eighteen years from 1545 until it closed in 1563 and confronted more individual problems than any previous Council. It's effect on the Church was wonderful, and is still felt today, five hundred years later:

from the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Council of Trent (see link below):

The Ecumenical Council of Trent has proved to be of the greatest importance for the development of the inner life of the Church. No council has ever had to accomplish its task under more serious difficulties, none has had so many questions of the greatest importance to decide. The assembly proved to the world that notwithstanding repeated apostasy in church life there still existed in it an abundance of religious force and of loyal championship of the unchanging principles of Christianity. Although unfortunately the council, through no fault of the fathers assembled, was not able to heal the religious differences of Western Europe, yet the infallible Divine truth was clearly proclaimed in opposition to the false doctrines of the day, and in this way a firm foundation was laid for the overthrow of heresy and the carrying out of genuine internal reform in the Church.

Answer 2

Catholic Answer

The Council of Trent was the Catholic Church: the Catholic Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, with Jesus Christ as Its head, and the baptized faithful as Its members. The Council of Trent was called by the Pope, and the Bishops arrived and debated on how to explicate Catholic doctrine in such a way as to refute the protestant heresy, which, due to the Peace of Augsburg was taken people away from the Church and access to the sacraments necessary for salvation. As the Council of Trent was the Church and it whole heartily accepted all the degrees of Christianity, they realized full well that there is no salvation outside the Church and they did their best to purify the Church of the problems which had allowed the protestant heresy to take root in the first place.