Episode Nine: The Council of Trent

The Council of Trent was one of the most important Councils in the history of the Church. Convoked by Pope Paul III in 1545, the Council was a response to the Protestant Reformation and took almost twenty years to complete. The Council did try to reconcile the Protestants with the Church but few ever attended, despite several invitations. However, there was one thing the Council Fathers could not do and that was to compromise on the faith itself. In the ninth episode of EWTN's costume docudrama, we delve into the cannons and decrees of the Council. We also look at the complex political and religious situation in the Europe of the sixteenth century, which was the troubled backdrop to the Council.  However, in many ways the Catholic Church emerged triumphant, for the genius of the Council of Trent was that it did not compromise the Church's teachings that stretch back to apostolic times. This would serve the Church well for the next three hundred years, as she re-evangelised some countries lost to the Church and expanded into new territories, as Catholicism became a truly global religion. Much of this episode was filmed on location in Trento and Northern Italy, with expert commentary from noted historians and theologians.