R1315thand16thA

Theme: The evolution of political elites and the use of political parties, ideologies, and other forms of mass politics.

A. The Council Of Trent (1545).

The Council of Trent was called by Alexander Farnese, who promised to summon a council if he was elected pope. It met intermittently from 1545-1563. The main goals were to reform the church and also to secure reconciliation with the Protestants. Even though Lutherans and Calvinists were invited to participate, their insistence that the Scriptures were the sole basis for discussion made reconciliation impossible. The council gave equal validity to the scriptures and to tradition as sources of religious truth and authority. It also reaffirmed the seven sacraments and the Catholic teaching of transubstantiation. It also formed Tridentine decrees, which required bishops to reside in their own diocese, suppressed pluralism and simony, and forbade the sale of indulgences. The council also created the Tridentine decree, Tametsi on November 1563, which required marriage to be a valid consent as given in the vows had to be made publicly before witnesses, one of whom had to be the Parish priest.

MLA:

McKay, John P. __A History of Western Society__. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003