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What was the Counter Reformation?

The Counter Reformation, or the Catholic Reformation, which dates from 1534, was the Roman Catholic Church's answer to the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century in Europe. Calls for church reform had been voiced by parishioners and members of the Roman Catholic clergy for more than two centuries. Finally, German monk and theology (study of religion) professor Martin Luther (1483–1546) nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg (Saxony, Germany) in 1517. Attacking the doctrines and authority of the church in the theses, Luther sparked the Reformation, and leaders of the movement—called Protestants since they protested against the Catholic Church—totally transformed religious life in Europe by creating new Christian churches. In 1534 the newly elected pope, Paul III (1468–1549), recognized that the church must respond to this Reformation...

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