1. The Protestant Reformation seriously weakened the power of the Roman
Catholic Church.

2. Many Catholics
left the Church
and joined
Protestant
churches. By
losing people,
the Church lost
land and wealth.
Protestant countries
took church lands
and fewer people
paid Church taxes.

3. Officials of the Roman Catholic Church
tried to stop the spread of Protestantism
by making changes.

4. This movement to stop the spread of Protestantism was called the
Catholic Counter Reformation.

5. The Roman Catholic
Church was
going
to fight back!

6. Between 1545
and 1563, officials
of the Roman
Catholic Church
met at the Council
of Trent. Church
officials redefined
Catholic beliefs
and created
strategies to stop
the spread of
Protestantism.

7. The Council
of Trent
ended the
sale of
indulgences.

8. The Inquisition
or Catholic
courts were
created to
punish Catholics
suspected of
Protestant
beliefs
in Catholic
countries.

9. Many suspected heretics or nonbelievers
of Catholic doctrine were tortured
and even killed.

10. The Inquisition
was a sad
chapter in
the history
of the Roman Catholic
Church.

11. A new Catholic
order was
founded by
Ignatius Loyola.
It was called
the Jesuits. The
Jesuits were
dedicated to
spreading and
defending the
Catholic faith.

12. The Jesuits
brought
the Roman
Catholic
faith to the
American
Indians.

13. And sometimes
these differences
of faith led to
war. In Germany,
the Thirty Years’
War was
a conflict between
Protestants
and Catholics.

14. But even
after the
Catholic
Counter
Reformation,
Western
Europe was
no longer
united by a
single church.

15. Catholic
Counter
Reformation