I think it is C
With the Counter-Reformation. This included such things as the Council of Trent (1545–1563) to respond to the ideas of the Reformers and affirm the Catholic faith. It also led to seminary formation for clergy, reforms of various orders, a greater emphasis on missionary work, both in newly discovered lands and in work in Protestant lands. Such missionaries, often at the risk of martyrdom, served Catholics cut off from the sacraments, and to try to convert Protestants. New forms of religious communities were formed, particularly “regular clergy” who took vows and remained under the bishop’s authority, but were not formed into monasteries so they remained free to minister where they were needed.
There were political initiatives (in France, in the Netherlands) and even wars (the infamous Thirty Years War) to restore Catholicism in some areas.
Liturgies were reformed (Missal of Pius V).
Eventually (in the 1960s) the Church accepted the need for the vernacular (the language spoken by the people) so they could more readily take their part in the liturgy.
New Spiritual leaders led to a spiritual revival. These include Ignatius of Loyola, the Carmelites John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales, Philip Neri, Charles Borromeo, and others.
That’s what comes to mind, at least for now.
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John Grantham
John Grantham, in Germany since ’93, fluent, teach scientific English
Answered Mar 1, 2018 · Author has 1.1k answers and 5.3m answer views
Originally Answered: What steps did the Catholic Church take to counter the Reformation?
They countered the Reformation with…wait for it…the Counter-Reformation.[1]
The Pope at the time, Paul III,[2] summoned the Council of Trent[3] to deliberate and implement reforms in response to the growing crisis in the Church. Some were a direct answer to the criticisms of the Protestant reformers, others amounted to a circling of the wagons.
In fact, historically time and again this has been the response by Rome to political challenges — centralizing control, in particular with a focus on the Papacy. The Second Vatican was a break with that tendency, but otherwise the pattern is clearly recognizable from 800 AD (the coronation of Charlemagne) onwards.
The headline reform at Trent was a standardization of and attempt to improve the Roman Rite of the Mass. The result of that was named for the council that created it, hence Tridentine Mass.[4] (The Latin name of Trent is Tridentum.) The Roman reformers replied to the Protestant demands for more simplicity in the Eucharist by going virtually the opposite direction. The Mass became extremely opulent, the churches designed to be even more overwhelming to the senses. The mystical elements of the Mass were given even greater emphasis.
This rite was the standard right up to 1962. Pope Pius V declared it to be the final and perfect revision of the Mass — which is why some traditionalist Catholics insist the modern church is heretical for having abandoned the Tridentine rite. (It survives in slightly modified form as the “Extraordinary Form” of the Mass, and perhaps a little ironically, it is still used by the otherwise very liberal Old Catholics in Europe for their ordinations, albeit in the vernacular. Old Catholics in Switzerland still use it as their regular Mass, translated into German and French.)
Over time, Rome encouraged the use of this new rite instead of the various local rites in use at the time. Many were abandoned, though a few local Western rites like the Ambrosian Rite still tenaciously hang on.[5]
