Slow Progress on Reform
Efforts at reforming the Church advanced more slowly than the debate over definitions of doctrine. The bishop of San Marco opened the session of 6 January 1546 with a sorrowful account of the corruption and error of the world, saying that the cause of all that wickedness and sin, the like of which the future would surely not see, was "solely the evil thinking of the clergy"; in his view Luther's heresy was mainly the result of the sins of the clergy, and reforming the clergy would therefore be the best way to quell that religious revolt. But the only basic reform made in Church law during the early sessions of the council was to forbid bishops to live outside their dioceses and to hold several offices at once.
The council proposed to the pope that reform of the "system for distributing benefices and favors" take precedence over theoretical debates about general policy. But Paul wished any reform to be left to the pope's personal will; and when the emperor pressed for more speed in drafting reform proposals, the pope instructed his representatives to propose moving the council to Bologna, a city in the Papal States under Rome's direct influence and supervision. The Italian bishops agreed, but the Spanish prelates and those of the empire objected. A mild outbreak of plague at Trent, conveniently timed, killed one of the council's bishops; the Italian majority moved to Bologna (March 1547), and the rest of the members stayed at Trent. Charles refused to recognize the sessions at Bologna and threatened to call a separate council in Germany. After two years of dispute and bargaining the pope gave in and suspended the Bologna assembly (September 1549).
Julius III Reopens the Council
Paul's death eased the situation. His successor Julius III came to terms with the emperor, and Charles in return promised not to support any action that would weaken papal authority. The pope ordered the council to meet again at Trent in May 1551 and agreed that the followers of Luther too might state their views. Henry II, king of France, who disliked this rapprochement between pope and emperor, did not recognize the council. When it opened, so few delegates were present that the session had to be postponed. It met again on 1 September with eight archbishops, thirty-six bishops, three abbots, five generals of orders, forty-eight theologians, Joachim II, elector of Brandenburg, and ambassadors of Charles and Ferdinand.
The Protestants at Trent
The thirteenth session (October 1551) confirmed the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. After this, hearing the Protestants seemed pointless, but Charles insisted on it. The duke of Württemberg, Maurice, elector of Saxony, and some southern German cities chose a Protestant delegation to represent them, and Melanchthon drew up an outline of Lutheran doctrine to present to the council. Charles gave each delegate a safe-conduct, but the delegates, remembering the Council of Constance and the fate of Hus, asked that the council itself also give them a guarantee. (A footnote of the source recalls that the Council of Constance did not honor the safe-conduct given to Jan Hus, leader of the reform movement in Bohemia, but arrested him for heresy and put him to death.) After much debate the request was granted. Nevertheless, a Dominican friar preaching in the very cathedral where the council met declared that though the seeds of heresy might be tolerated for a time, in the end they must be wholly destroyed by fire.
On 24 January 1552 the Protestant delegates addressed the council. They proposed that the decrees of the councils of Constance and Basel be confirmed, on the principle of the superiority of councils over popes; that the members present be released from their oath of loyalty to Julius III; that all decisions the council had approved up to then be annulled; and that all the questions under discussion be reopened in a more general synod with enough Protestant representatives. Julius III strictly forbade the consideration of these proposals. The council voted to postpone the decision on them until the session of 19 March, in which more Protestant delegates were to take part.
The Council Suspended
Meanwhile important military events pushed theology aside. In January 1552 the king of France signed an alliance with the German Protestants; in March Maurice of Saxony marched toward Innsbruck. Charles fled, and no force remained that could stop Maurice from a possible attack on Trent that would break up the council. The bishops vanished one by one, and on 28 April the council was formally suspended. Under the Peace of Passau (2 August 1552) Ferdinand granted the victorious Protestants religious freedom, and they no longer paid attention to the council's fate.
Paul IV thought it best to let the council sleep through the winter of his reign. But Pius IV, a kindly old man, consoled himself with the thought that if he allowed the Eucharist to be taken in both ways, in accord with Catholic belief and Protestant theory alike, he might quench the fire of discord. He called the members to meet at Trent on 6 April 1561 and also invited all Christian princes, Catholic and Protestant, to take part. The French delegates brought a frightening list of reforms they wanted, including the freedom to celebrate Mass in the vernacular, communion in both kinds, permission for priests to marry, the subordination of the pope to the decrees of general councils, and the abolition of the pope's power to grant exemptions and dispensations.
The Last Phase, 1562–1563
Apparently the French government at that time had taken up a way of thinking similar to the Huguenots' beliefs. Ferdinand I, now emperor, backed these proposals and added others: "the pope ... must make humility his motto, begin the reform of religion with his own person and then extend it to his administration, his court and the whole of his domain"; the legends of the saints must be cleansed of superstition; and the monasteries must be established on a new basis "so that their great wealth would no longer be squandered as before." Things looked fatal for Pius, and his representatives awaited the opening of the council in fear and trembling.
After strategic delays, the seventeenth session met on 18 January 1562 with five cardinals, three patriarchs, eleven archbishops, ninety bishops, fourteen generals of orders, four abbots and a variety of lay envoys of the Catholic princes. At Ferdinand's request, a safe-conduct was to be given to every Protestant delegate who wished to take part in the discussions, but no candidate appeared.
The archbishop of Granada and Cardinal Charles of Lorraine led the deliberation on reducing the pope's privileges and stated that bishops do not receive their spiritual office from the pope but hold it by "divine right", conferred on them directly by God; and the bishop of Segovia openly repeated one of Luther's heresies, the denial of the pope's superiority over other bishops, as had been the custom in the early Church. This episcopal revolt against papal power was neutralized by the parliamentary skill of the pope's representatives, the loyalty of the Italian and Polish bishops to the pope, and the pope's well-timed courtesies to Cardinal Charles of Lorraine. At the end of the council papal authority had not been reduced but increased, and it was also decreed that all bishops should swear obedience to the pope in person. Ferdinand set his mind at ease with the promise that after the council the pope would permit the Eucharist in both the Catholic and Protestant manner.
The Closing Decrees
As soon as this main quarrel was gone, the council hastily arranged and finished its remaining tasks. Priestly marriage remained forbidden, and severe penalties were set to prevent concubinage among priests. Many small reforms were adopted to curb the moral corruption and indiscipline of the clergy. Seminaries were to be founded to train candidates for the priesthood and accustom them to the rigors of asceticism and piety. The unruly powers of the papal court were bridled, and rules were made for reforming church music and art; among them, nude figures were to be covered enough not to provoke lustful imaginings. On the veneration of saints, the use of pictures and statues representing them was allowed. Belief in purgatory, indulgences and invocation of the saints was confirmed, and new definitions were given for them.
On this point the council honestly admitted that the Church's excesses had kindled Luther's fire of rebellion. One decree stated:
As to the granting of indulgences and their offering by ecclesiastical authorities ... the council commands that every wicked profit that has come to the Church by this means be thrown out entirely, and that the basis of this deplorable money-seeking be removed from Christendom. The council obliges every bishop to examine carefully within his diocese any disorder or abuse that arises from ignorance, superstition, irreverence, profit-seeking and other misdeeds of Church servants, and to report them first to the provincial synods and then, with the agreement of other bishops, to the pontiff of Rome.
The Council Dissolved
The pope and the emperor now agreed that the council had done its useful work, and on 4 December 1563, amid the cheers of delegates worn out by debate, the general Council of Trent was dissolved. The Church's course was now set for centuries.