Protestantism

The general abuses of the Church.

Lutherans didn't want bishops, because they believed in the 'Priesthood of all believers', aka it is not only Bishops who can communicate with God, it is everyone.

Also they didn't want the Pope, because he claimed the was divinely appointed by God. However as this was not written about in the Bible, Lutherans disagreed with this.

Mostly they disagreed with the sale of indulgences, because the Church said giving money would go towards ensuring salvation. Lutherans believed salvation could only be achieved through 'sola fide', or faith alone.

(Of course, the money the Church collected went to immoral things that were not to do with religion.)

Also they wanted the Bible to be available in all languages so that everyone could read it because they believed in 'sola scriptura', faith alone.

Overall, the Church believed in making people pay for indulgences and keeping the pesants illiterate.

Protestants didn't want indulgences, just the reading of the Bible and the simple belief in God.

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

The Protestant Reformation: the revolt from the Catholic Church in Western Europe begun and carried to its height in the 16th century. It differed from all previous heretical movements in that it was not concerned with one or a few definite points of doctrine but was directed against the whole complex and system of Christianity as then understood; it gave licence to the human self in the spiritual and religious order. Its principal causes were: the excessive temporal power, wealth and privilege which accrued to the higher clergy, the wicked, worldly and careless lives of many of the clergy, secular and regular, and the decay of philosophy and theology (these resulted partly from the Renaissance) with consequent low standard of spiritual life among the people generally; the weakening of the authority of the Holy See, following the Great Schism, increased by the humanistic corruption of the papal court; the parallel insurgence of secular princes. Its principal motives were: desire for the purity of religion and godliness of life which, from the state of the clergy, precipitated a violent and unreasoning anti-clericalism which degenerated into contempt for all spiritual authority; the national ambitions of secular princes which flourished in the break-up of the Catholic integrity of Europe; an appetite for spoil and, as in England, fear of having to give up looted ecclesiastical wealth; in some, a hatred of the Church and Faith which can be attributed only to the direct working of the Devil. The principal results of the Reformation were: the true reform of the Church "in head and members" effected by the Council of Trent and the revivification of Catholicism so thoroughly achieved that it remains vital to this day (The Counter-reformation); the putting of countless souls, notably in Great Britain, Scandinavia and the German parts of the Empire, in enmity to the Church and consequently outside those means provided by Christ for man to know and attain to God; the disappearance of any "higher unity" holding together the diverse peoples and nations of Europe, the inoculation of men with naturalistic and humanitarian (as opposed to theocentric) philosophy which is now the chiefest enemy of Christianity.

protestants which were led by Martin Luther

.

The Circumcisers (1st century)

Gnosticism (1st and 2nd centuries)

Montanism (late 2nd century)

Savellianism (early 3rd century)

Arianism (4th century)

Pelagianism (5th century)

Semi-Pelagianism (5th century)

Nestorianism (5th century)

Monophysitism (5th century)

Iconoclasm (7th and 8th centuries)

Catharism (11th century)

Protestantism (16th century)

Jansenism (17th century)

Martin Luther's declaration of dissent from the Diet of Spires - which confirmed the decision of the Diet of Worms - which condemned the Reformation movement which Luther started... that declaration was called in Latin a protestatio.

From that comes the word Protestant.

The word has roots in two Latin words -

* pro meaning forth, publicly * testari meaning assert (and related to testament and testimony)

(1545 - 63) 19th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church, which made sweeping reforms and laid down dogma clarifying nearly all doctrines contested by the Protestants. Convened by Pope at Trento in northern Italy, it served to revitalize in many parts of Europe. In its first period (1545 - 47) it accepted the as the basis of Catholic faith, fixed the canon of the and , set the number of at seven, and defined the nature and consequences of sin; it also ruled against doctrine of justification by faith. In its second period (1551 - 52) it confirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation and issued decrees on episcopal jurisdiction and clerical discipline. In the final period (1562 - 63) it defined the as a true sacrifice and issued statements on several other doctrinal issues. By the end of the 16th century, many of the abuses that had motivated the Protestant reformation had disappeared, and the church had reclaimed many of its European followers.

.

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.