What were the responses of the Catholic authorities in the sixteenth century to the challenges posed by the Lutheran Reformation?.
Response.
Protestantism was a religion introduced to Europe 1517 by a man named Martin Luther when he published his book The Ninety-Five Theses, and nailed them to every door. As time went on, a schism occurred in which the Roman Catholic Church was split between both the Catholics and the Protestants. The Reformation occurred due to Luther's disbeliefs of the Church's current beliefs, one being the selling of indulgences, and other corrupt ideas such as nepotism and simony. With Protestantism growing ever since introduced, and many challenges against the church, the Catholic authorities responded in different ways in order to keep Protestantism from growing and correcting it of its mistakes at the Council of Trent (1545-1563).
In one of the responses of the Catholic authorities to the Lutheran Reformation was the cleanup of the beliefs that were deemed incorrect according to the church, and the reaffirmation of these beliefs. For example, the Lutherans believed that there existed only two sacraments: Holy Communion or Eucharist, in which the mass attendees partake in bread and wine that has been blessed due to the presence Christ during the mass, transforming it into the body and blood of Christ, and Baptism, in which the person getting baptized is cleansed from original sin. .
However, the Catholic Church believed that seven sacraments existed: Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Matrimony, otherwise known as marriage, Holy Orders, in which a person undergoes certain tasks to become a priest, Anointing of the Sick, and Confirmation. At the Council of Trent the Catholic authorities attempted to clean up the act of the Protestants by trying to persuade them to believe in all seven sacraments and reaffirmed this belief as well. Many other beliefs were reaffirmed as well; beliefs such as Monasteries, Miracles, Saints, Holy Relics, etc.