The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation

The Protestant and Catholic reform movements were motivated by many common spiritual and intellectual factors. Both sought to return to what they considered to be a more authentic Christianity. By the end of the sixteenth century Catholic Europe had splintered into several competing Christian confessions: Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anabaptists. Faith in Christ and the Bible became the key unifying forces among the Protestants. Tradition and the papacy unified Catholics. The Council of Trent put into motion the Catholic reform movement, which was also reinforced by the emergence of several new religious orders. Both reforms profoundly reshaped the religious, social, and political landscape of Europe. Tridentine Catholicism was carried overseas to the Spanish, Portuguese, and French empires. Sixteenth-century intolerance gave way to toleration, and toleration to ecumenical openness in the twentieth century.