Pius IV
When the College of Cardinals in 1559 elected Giovanni Angelo de' Medici as pope, with the name Pius IV, western Europe breathed a sigh of relief. He was not one of the millionaire Medici but the son of a tax collector in Milan. He first practiced law for a living, won the admiration and trust of Paul III, rose to the rank of cardinal and became known for intelligence and good sense. Once pope, he shunned war and rebuked and dismissed advisers who favored an aggressive policy. He did not dismantle the Inquisition, but he informed its inquisitors that "if they wished to enjoy his favor, they had better perform their duties with gentlemanly courtesy rather than monkish roughness."
One of the over-pious, who thought the pope too gentle and easygoing, plotted against his life, but when the calm, unarmed pontiff passed by him, the man was overawed by his nobility and stood rooted to the spot. With firm resolve but courteous manner Pius IV carried out the Church reforms of his predecessors. To show a spirit of conciliation he allowed the Catholic bishops of Germany to celebrate the Eucharist with both bread and wine. He reopened the Council of Trent and took its direction upon himself to bring it to the desired end. He died in 1565, after a peaceful reign that had strengthened the foundations of the Catholic reform movement.
The Council of Trent, 1545–1563: Why So Late?
Long before Luther, thousands of voices had called for a council to reform the Church. Luther himself appealed to the pope for a general and free council. Charles V also wanted a synod, hoping to be relieved of the problem of Protestantism, and perhaps also to intimidate Clement VII and put him in his place. But that harassed pope could invent a hundred reasons for delaying a council in order somehow to shift the burden of calling it. He remembered what had befallen the papacy after the councils of Constance and Basel, and he was not at all willing for vindictive bishops, or the emperor's representatives, to meddle in politics, in family troubles, or even in the question of the circumstances of his birth.
Besides, what use could a council be in that situation? Had Luther not rejected councils along with popes? If the Protestants were admitted to a council and allowed to speak freely, the dispute that resulted would surely deepen the separation and hatred between the Catholic and Protestant faiths and throw Europe into chaos; and if they were not admitted, they would certainly rise in rebellion out of anger and revenge. Charles wanted the council held on German soil, but Francis was not willing to let French clergy take part in an assembly under the emperor's direct influence; besides, Francis tried to keep the fire of Protestantism always burning behind Charles V's back. This was one of the secrets of his policy.
Paul III Summons the Council
Paul III had all of Clement's fears but more courage. In 1536 he issued a decree convening a general council at Mantua for 23 May 1537, and invited the Protestants to take part. Paul thought that all the parties represented in the council would accept the results of its deliberations, forgetting that the Protestants, who were a minority, could hardly undertake such a commitment. Luther judged it unwise for Protestants to take part in a general council, and the Schmalkaldic League returned the pope's invitation unopened. Emperor Charles V still insisted that the council be held on German soil, his reasoning being that in Italy the bishops would crowd in and the council would become a plaything in the pope's hands. After several rounds of negotiation and some delay, Paul agreed to hold the council at Trent, a city that was originally Italian but at that time belonged to the empire. The members were officially summoned to gather at Trent on 1 November 1542.
But the king of France would not play along. He forbade the publication of the pope's letters of summons in his country and threatened with arrest any clergy who wished to attend a council held on enemy soil. When the council opened, only a handful of Italian bishops were present, and Paul was forced to postpone the session until the agreement of Charles and Francis could bring the council together. The Peace of Crépy seemed to prepare the ground; Paul seized the chance to summon the council again for 14 March 1545. But a renewed danger of a Turkish attack made the emperor ask for further postponement, and at last on 13 December 1545 the "nineteenth ecumenical council of the Christian Church" began its work.
The Composition of the Council
The beginning was again unpropitious and far from promising a happy outcome. The pope, whose age was nearing eighty, stayed in Rome and supervised the council "in absentia", so to speak; but he had sent three cardinals as his representatives: Del Monte, Cervini and Pole. The council's makeup was this: Cardinal Madruzzo of Trent, four archbishops, twenty bishops, five generals of religious orders, a number of abbots and a few theologians. Yet it still could not claim to be a truly "ecumenical" council. At the councils of Constance and Basel, priests, princes and even some laymen had a vote equal to that of the prelates, and the voting was by national groups, whereas at Trent only cardinals, bishops, generals of orders and abbots could vote, and the voting was by individuals.
As a result the Italian bishops, each of whom for some reason was indebted to the papacy or ready to serve it, dominated the council with their majority. A "congregation of advisers" meeting in Rome under the pope's own supervision prepared the matters the council was to debate and foresaw the results. Since the Council of Trent claimed to be guided by the Holy Spirit, one of the French delegates remarked: "The third person of the divine Trinity arrives regularly from Rome to Trent in the mailbag of the courier."
Doctrine or Reform First?
The first matter debated was the method of work: should the faith be defined first and the needed reforms considered afterward, or the reverse? The pope and his Italian supporters wanted doctrine defined first, but the emperor and his supporters put discussion of reforms first: Charles in the hope of calming and weakening the Protestants and then dividing them, and the prelates of Germany and Spain in the hope that reforms would reduce the pope's control over bishops and councils. In the end a compromise was reached on one point: parallel committees would prepare definitive statements on both matters, doctrine and reform, and present each in turn to the council.
The Jesuits at Trent
In May 1546 Paul sent two Jesuit leaders, Laínez and Salmerón, to Trent to help his legates in theological matters and to uphold papal authority; they were later joined by Peter Canisius and Claude Jay. The Jesuits' unmatched skill in theology soon established the superiority of their influence in the debates, and their firm faith in the established Church led the council, instead of trying to secure peace and unity of opinion, to declare war on the reforming ideas of the Protestants.
Apparently the judgment of most members was this: concessions of any kind to the Protestants would not end the schism; the Protestant sects were so numerous and varied that no compromise could satisfy some without injuring others; any basic change in the old doctrines would shake the whole structure of faith and the pillars of Catholicism; handing priestly powers to laymen would destroy the moral authority of priests and the Church; authority is necessary to keep social order; and, finally, submitting a religious theology based on sincere faith to the whims of individual reasoning would bring about the abolition and collapse of that religion.
The First Decrees
As a result, the fourth session of the Council of Trent (April 1546) confirmed each article of the Christian creed approved at the Council of Nicaea exactly; gave to church traditions the same authority and validity as Scripture; gave the Church alone the right to spread and interpret Scripture; and declared the Latin translation of Saint Jerome, the Vulgate, the Church's only official text. Thomas Aquinas was also named the sole authoritative interpreter of orthodox theology, and his summa of theology was placed at a lofty rank, just one degree below Scripture and the "collection of papal decrees." After the Council of Trent, Catholicism became a powerful and unbreakable faith, able to stand as a crushing answer against the assault of Protestantism, rationalism and individual judgment. The "gentlemanly compromise" of the Renaissance Church with the intellectual classes was gone.
Faith Alone?
But if faith was so important and vital, was it alone enough, as Luther claimed, to bring eternal salvation? The fifth session of the council (June 1546) saw heated debates on this subject. One bishop seized another bishop by the beard and tore out a handful of white hair. The emperor learned of it and sent word that if the council could not carry out its task in peace, he would order several prelates thrown into the River Adige to cool their heat. Reginald Pole defended a view dangerously close to Luther's, and Cardinal Carafa, the future Paul IV, accused him of heresy. Pole left the field, went to Padua, and on the pretext of ill health excused himself from regular attendance at the council.
Cardinal Seripando supported the conciliatory proposal that Contarini, who had died by then, had presented at Regensburg, but Laínez led the council to insist on strong opposition to Luther's views on the importance of good works and on free will.