ABSTRACT
The aftermath of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses precipitated a widespread demand for a General Council. Two issues seemed to make such an assembly imperative. One was the general state of the Church and ecclesiastical practice. The other was the teaching and doctrine of the Church. Luther had raised his voice on both counts, but the doctrinal issue increasingly became the more important. Because of the political and ecclesiastical controversies and because of certain misgivings in Rome as to a General Council, the Council was not convened until December 13, 1545. It met with long interruptions until December 1563. The Protestants did not participate in the Council, though a few Protestants from Germany visited the Council in 1552, largely from political pressure. The Council of Trent was the Roman Catholic answer to the Protestant Reformation, though it is too simple to interpret it as simply an answer to the Reformation.
