EARLY MODERN CATHOLICISM: 1500-1800(PART I) | KAIROS GLOBAL | JANUARY 2024

Author: Rodney Pereira

Intro: Rodney Pereira takes us through the history of the Catholic Church between 1500 and 1800 AD in this two-part article.

This period was a turbulent one, with the Church facing immense challenges from within and without. It evokes memories of the Protestant Revolt, the counter-reformation, great missionaries, the French Revolution, and great artists. Many religious, social, and political developments affected the Church significantly. Perhaps the greatest challenge since the Age of Persecution came in the form of the Protestant Revolt. Let us have a look at some of the key aspects of this period. 

The Protestant Revolt

The Church was desperately in need of reform before the Protestant Revolt (also known as the Protestant Reformation) began. The worldliness that affected the clergy, spiritual laxity, political interests, secular concerns, and the state of the papacy had all led to the call for a ‘reform of head and members,’ even in the fourteenth century. Before the actual revolt began, there was the influence of a few ‘proto-Protestants,’ like Jan Hus and John Wycliffe, who went beyond the call for reform to deny some of the teachings of the Church. Erasmus of Rotterdam was one who tried to reform the church from within. The call for change was intensifying.

Martin Luther did not intend the breaking from the Catholic Church. He was a zealous German Augustinian monk who suffered greatly from scruples and couldn’t believe his sins were forgiven even after confessing them and doing penance. He pictured God as stern and unforgiving. Once, while reading Romans 3:27-28, he felt enlightened and relieved: Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. He became convinced that it is faith alone that justifies a sinner. This was the inception of ‘Faith alone’ (Sola Fide), one of the key theological doctrines held by most Protestant Christian denominations. Several factors led to Luther’s opposition to the Church, the chief of which was the abuse of the teaching on indulgences. He nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. Many consider this the birth of Protestantism. Several efforts were made by concerned people to make Luther recant his ideas during a three-year period. Slowly and progressively, he became more determined. The spread of Luther’s thoughts was aided by the mechanised printing press, which was becoming popular at the time.

In 1519, while being cornered in the famous Leipzig Debate, Luther realised he could not refute his critic, the Catholic theologian Johann Eck. He then resorted to a new claim: ‘A church council may sometimes err. Neither the church nor the pope can establish articles of faith. These must come from Scripture.’ This was the beginning of another major article of Protestant theology, ‘Scripture Alone’ (Sola Scriptura).

Pope Leo, who was busy with building projects, dismissed the reports from Germany as a ‘squabble among monks.’ By the time he realised the gravity of the situation, it was too late. Luther was given a chance to recant his beliefs and writings, but he refused. Ultimately, Luther was excommunicated in January 1521. Luther was supported and protected by the Prince of Saxony. He continued and intensified his attack against the Church. Luther’s ideas spread rapidly, ultimately dividing Germany and later Europe between those who were for him and those against him. Other reformers soon emerged. Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin are the most prominent names. John Calvin formed his own brand of Protestantism, which came to be known as Calvinism. He was the proponent of the doctrine called predestination, which states that God ‘predestines’ or actively chooses certain individuals to be saved and others to be damned. In England, King Henry VIII was conferred the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ by Pope Leo X for his writings against Luther’s teachings. But when Pope Clement VII did not agree to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII broke with Rome and declared himself the supreme head of the church in England through the Act of Supremacy of 1534. His daughter, Elizabeth I, in an effort to create a moderate settlement, established the Church of England in 1559, which embraced Protestant teachings.

Today, there are about 800 million Protestant Christians, representing around 37 percent of the world Christian population. The ‘reformation’ was in many ways a ‘deformation’. The Center for Global Christianity (an evangelical Protestant source) notes that there are 47,000 denominations. Protestantism was a divided house from its inception. With the papacy and all kinds of authority removed, with no unifying principle, and with private interpretation of scripture, even the reformers found themselves quarrelling over several doctrines and issues. For example, Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin had disagreements on the Eucharist, which came to be called the ‘Supper strife’. It exists even to this day. William J. Whalen, in his 1958 book Separated Brethren, noted that there were 300 interpretations of the Lord’s words, ‘This is my body.’

Apart from leaving the body of Christ splintered, the Protestant Revolt had several other consequences. The Catholic influence over the world was severely affected. Steve Weidenkop observes: ‘The Church was viewed no longer as the Church, but as a church. This new outlook ultimately produced indifferentism (all religions are the same), religious scepticism, and secular humanism, because the authority of the Church as the guardian and interpreter of God-given objective truth was rejected’ (The Reformation-20 Answers Series from Catholic Answers). In his book The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society, Brad S. Gregory lists out the unintended consequences of the Protestant Reformation, noting how it led to polarisation and pluralism in the west, laying the foundation for the present secular culture.

The Counter-Reformation

The Counter-Reformation, or Catholic Reformation, from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries was partly in response to the Protestant Reformation. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) comes to mind first when we talk about the Counter-Reformation. The Council took place over a period of 18 years in three sessions under the auspices of three different popes, with interruptions due to wars. The Council brought about sweeping reforms refining the Church structure, clarifying doctrines challenged by the Protestants, addressing matters of discipline, and ensuring proper education for future clergy. It prepared the Church for facing future challenges and revitalised the Church in many parts of Europe. The three great popes after the Council, St Pius V, Gregory XIII, and Sixtus V, led the Church in the spirit of the Council. The efforts of St Pius V resulted in the Roman Catechism and Roman Missal, which aided Catholic catechesis and worship until the Second Vatican Council. And almost all the key features of the Church remained nearly unaltered after Trent, for nearly 500 years up until the Second Vatican Council.

In the next part of this article, we will look at the Missions that flourished during this period, French Revolution, as well as learnings from the story of the Church during this time.

An agricultural officer in the Kerala Government Department of Agriculture, Rodney Pereira lives in Trivandrum with his wife Leema Pereira and their son Joshua.