1545–1563

The Council of Trent and Bellarmine: the Catholic definition of the Church and papal authority

According to Berkhof, the Roman conception of the Church was not officially formulated before the Reformation: Trent itself did not venture to define the Church, since the curia wanted recognition of the papal system while many bishops held that their authority came directly from Christ. González shows that by the end of the council Pius IV was "unquestionably master of the assembly": the council asked him to confirm its decrees, and the pope became the source of the council's authority and its final interpreter. The Tridentine Catechism defines the Church as the assembly of the faithful "with one invisible Head, Christ, and one visible head, the successor of Peter"; Bellarmine, as a society bound by the profession of one faith, the same sacraments and submission to lawful pastors, especially the Roman pontiff. He ascribed to the pope only indirect temporal power.