How did the catholic church reform itself in response to the protestant changes Council of Trent?

(1545 - 63) 19th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church, which made sweeping reforms and laid down dogma clarifying nearly all doctrines contested by the Protestants. Convened by Pope at Trento in northern Italy, it served to revitalize in many parts of Europe. In its first period (1545 - 47) it accepted the as the basis of Catholic faith, fixed the canon of the and , set the number of at seven, and defined the nature and consequences of sin; it also ruled against doctrine of justification by faith. In its second period (1551 - 52) it confirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation and issued decrees on episcopal jurisdiction and clerical discipline. In the final period (1562 - 63) it defined the as a true sacrifice and issued statements on several other doctrinal issues. By the end of the 16th century, many of the abuses that had motivated the Protestant reformation had disappeared, and the church had reclaimed many of its European followers.

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Catholic AnswerThe Council of Trent, the most conservative Council the Church has ever had, did not really reform Catholicism as such, although it did reform Church discipline, particularly as regards the clergy. As far as Catholic dogma and doctrine, it just reaffirmed the constant teaching of the Church, reaffirmed it, and made it clear exactly what we do believe.

from

A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

The Council of Trent

The 19th ecumenical council held at Trent in the Austrian Tyrol, 1545-63, summoned for the purpose of combating Protestantism and reforming the discipline of the Church; the longest and one of the most important of all general councils. It dealt in detail with the doctrinal innovations of the Reformers and with those gross abuses which gave them an opportunity to take root. It was one of the most important events of modern history and has had lasting effect. The principal dogmatic decisions were: the confirmation of the Nicene creed; the authenticity of the Latin Vulgate and the canonicity of all books contained therein and of them only; the definition of the doctrine of Original Sin; the precision of the doctrine of Justification, condemning justification by faith alone and imputation of grace; the condemnation of thirty errors about the sacraments; the definition of the Real Presence and of Transubstantiation as its mode: the precision of the doctrine of the sacraments of penance and Extreme Unction; the declaration that holy communion in both kinds was not necessary for lay-people and clerics not celebrating, Christ being received whole and entire under either species; the precision of doctrine concerning the sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments of holy Orders and Matrimony; the affirmation of the doctrines of Purgatory, of the invocation of saints, and the veneration of them, their relics and images, and of Indulgences. Far-reaching decrees of reformation in discipline and morals were adopted involving many alterations in canon law, e.g. the decree Tametsi.