What is the main idea of council of Trent?

Answer 1

.Catholic AnswerThe key ideas of the Council of Trent were to restate the consistent teaching of the Church. The Council of Trent was far and away the most conservative Council that the Church ever held. It came up with no new ideas, only restated the teaching of the Church that had always been taught. They rejected all the innovations of the protestant heretics, but please note that the Council of Trent neither rejected any teaching of the Church nor did it make up any new teachings, it just restated and clarified what had always been taught. These ideas included the fact that the New Testament came centuries after Christ, and that it was a part of the teaching of the Church NOT the other way around. The Council did reject the innovations such as throwing out books of the Bible, rejecting the clear teaching of Christ, St. Paul, and St. James and taught in the Bible that faith is based on faith and works, and that, as St. James says, "faith without works is dead" and cannot save. The Council reiterated the teaching that the sacraments are real avenues of grace set up by Our Blessed Lord to save us, and that the Church He set up with St. Peter at its head was necessary.

from the Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Council of TrentThe 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.

from

A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

The Council of Trent

The 19th ecumenical council held at Trent in the Austrian Tyrol, 1545-63, summoned for the purpose of combating Protestantism and reforming the discipline of the Church; the longest and one of the most important of all general councils. It dealt in detail with the doctrinal innovations of the Reformers and with those gross abuses which gave them an opportunity to take root. It was one of the most important events of modern history and has had lasting effect. The principal dogmatic decisions were: the confirmation of the Nicene creed; the authenticity of the Latin Vulgate and the canonicity of all books contained therein and of them only; the definition of the doctrine of Original Sin; the precision of the doctrine of Justification, condemning justification by faith alone and imputation of grace; the condemnation of thirty errors about the sacraments; the definition of the Real Presence and of Transubstantiation as its mode: the precision of the doctrine of the sacraments of penance and Extreme Unction; the declaration that holy communion in both kinds was not necessary for lay-people and clerics not celebrating, Christ being received whole and entire under either species; the precision of doctrine concerning the sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments of holy Orders and Matrimony; the affirmation of the doctrines of Purgatory, of the invocation of saints, and the veneration of them, their relics and images, and of Indulgences. Far-reaching decrees of reformation in discipline and morals were adopted involving many alterations in canon law, e.g. the decree Tametsi.

Answer 2

The main idea of the Council of Trent was to address and reform issues within the Catholic Church in response to the Protestant Reformation. It clarified Catholic doctrine, established Church teachings, and addressed abuses and corruption within the Church. The council also emphasized the importance of scripture and tradition, reaffirmed the seven sacraments, and asserted the authority of the pope and Church hierarchy.