The Catholic Counter-Reformation Is Over

Now we wait and hope for a reunion of all Christians

Russell Shaw
March 22, 2016

News that Pope Francis will travel to Sweden in October for an event marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation underlines the fact that the Catholic Counter-Reformation is over. Whether Protestants are prepared to say the same about the Reformation is for them to decide. A Catholic can only hope.

To say that these two momentous movements, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, are over is certainly not to deny their lasting impact on religion and the world. But except for isolated pockets of resistance on both sides, Catholic-Protestant hostility is today a thing of the past.

This relationship is in a new era and has been for some time. The October 31 commemorative event Pope Francis will attend in Lund, Sweden, is testimony to that.

It was on October 31, 1517, that an obscure monk and theology professor named Martin Luther posted 95 theses — on a church door, so it’s said — setting out his views on controverted religious issues of that day. The ceremony in Lund, site of the founding of the Lutheran World Federation, will mark the opening of the anniversary year.

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