the council of trento and the controriforma

the council was summoned by the pope paolo iii with the bull of 22nd may 1542, but it started in trento only on 13th december 1545; in 1547 it was trasnferred to bologna. the council was resummoned in trento by the pope giulioiii in 1551-52; opened again in 1562, it came to an end in 1563 with pio iv.

the council, wanted by the emperor carlov and by some catholics, had the aim to reassemble the religious union in europe after martin lutero's preaching that had caused germany's religious breaking. at the end of the council the sentence agaist the protestantism was confirmed and a reform inside the church was started.

from that moment the period called controriforma started: to prevent the spreading of lutero and other riformers'(see clavino) ideas, the church of rome used some repressive means such as the inquisition tribunal and theindex offorbidden books.