ABSTRACT
The Catholic reaction in England during Mary’s reign coincided with a stiffening of Catholicism abroad after its recovery from the first shock of the Reformation. The Church had been slow in realising the importance of that movement and slower still in concerting adequate steps to meet it. One reason was that it had long known its need of reform, but had turned a deaf ear to the cry until it seemed possible to ignore it for ever. The Fifth Council of the Lateran (1512-17) had drawn up a programme of practical measures, but the vested interests of the Papacy and the Curia had prevented anything being done. Nevertheless in Italy itself a whole new generation of earnest men was springing up, which, as it replaced the older men in office, succeeded in making the Church an infinitely more efficient organisation than it had been in the days of the Renaissance.
