Council of Trent
- Date
- 1545–1563
- Place
- Trent, northern Italy (briefly transferred to Bologna, 1547–1549)
What it decided
In three periods (1545–1547, 1551–1552, 1562–1563) it responded to the Protestant Reformation. It affirmed Scripture and apostolic traditions as sources of revelation and defined the biblical canon including the deuterocanonical books (1546), declaring the Vulgate authentic. It taught on original sin and justification (1547), the seven sacraments, transubstantiation (1551), the Mass as sacrifice (1562) and purgatory. With the decree Tametsi (1563) it required a public form of marriage, and it ordered the creation of seminaries.
- Convoked by
- Pope Paul III; resumed under Julius III and Pius IV
Who recognises it
Catholic Church only (nineteenth ecumenical council).