Catholic Reformation

Catholic Reformation was an effort to reform the Catholic Church. It is also known as the counter reformation. Catholic leaders worked to strengthen the church and to stop Protestantism in Europe. Most leaders came from Spain and they fought to make Catholicism the only religion in their kingdoms. In many areas the three religions were Christians, Muslims, and Jews. They all prospered because they could resist one another. Later, Catholic rulers forced Muslims and Jews out of Spain or to convert to Catholicism. This is when the Spanish Inquisition was ordered to rule out any hiding Muslims or Jews and later on, the Christians and Protestants.They wanted it to be a Catholic empire. The spanish church became strong with no oppositions. The ideas of the Reformation did not become very popular in Spain. The spanish clergy were the first to fight back to the Protestant Reformation. Catholic leaders responded to the protestors by creating new religious orders, change church policies, and to stop the spread of Protestant teachings. The new religious orders soon led to the first new order called Jesuits. Some leaders saw protestants as heretics, so they built religious courts where they would punish any Protestants in Italy. They also banned some books written by the Protestors.

Spanish Inquisition, where they rule out any Muslims and Jews. They also ruled out the Christian Protestants.