Changes

In 1517, [[Martin Luther]] started the [[Protestant Reformation]] which initially focused on the giving of [[indulgences]] but eventually grew to have a wide variety of different causes and issues. Eventually, Protestants rejected the notions of saintly intercession, the authority of the pope and many of the sacraments. This eventually led to a series of religious wars in [[Europe]] and the Protestant-Catholic split became one of the dominant themes in European events until modern times.

In 1517, [[Martin Luther]] started the [[Protestant Reformation]] which initially focused on the giving of [[indulgences]] but eventually grew to have a wide variety of different causes and issues. Eventually, Protestants rejected the notions of saintly intercession, the authority of the pope and many of the sacraments. This eventually led to a series of religious wars in [[Europe]] and the Protestant-Catholic split became one of the dominant themes in European events until modern times.

=== Modernity ===

=== Confronting modernity ===

Centuries XVIII and XIX brought to the Church new challenges: [[Enlightenment]] and [[Modernism]] teachings about the nature of the human person, and the [[Industrial Revolution]] with the increased concern about the conditions of urban workers.

The 18th and 19th centuries brought to the Church new challenges: [[Enlightenment]] and [[Modernism]] teachings about the nature of the human person.  [[Pope Pius IX]] fought back vigorously. Urbanization brought millions of peasants out of the villages to industrial cities, where church facilities were few.

 

A spiritual revolution took place in the 19th century, moving individuals to personal piety.  There was a much greater emphasis on the role of Mary, and a greatly increased involvement of women; the number of sisters and nuns increased from 20,000 to 400,000 between 1815 and 1914.

 

The arts provided a refuge from modernity in the form of a nostalgic aesthetic. Church architecture saw the revival of the medieval [[Gothic]] style. Romantic literature, for example by Chateaubriand, helped inspire a Catholic revival. In music, Catholic churchgoers were likely to be exposed to an officially sponsored revival of a cappella singing in the manner of Palestrina. The rapid development of symphonic and operatic forms affected sacred music, resulting in many masses, requiems, and te deums for large orchestra and chorus, sometimes even composed by skeptics such as Berlioz and Verdi.

 

In politics as democracy and popular government spread, religious motivations moved people into one party or the other.  The parties in such battles tended to be different depending on the religious configuration of a given country. In Catholic countries such as France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, sharp confrontations emerged between clericals and anti-clericals; in countries with mixed Catholic and Protestant populations such as Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Britain and the U.S., political splits occurred along confessional lines.  In the U.S. the great majority of the Catholics -- led by the Irish--became [[Democratic Party|Democrats]].  In Germany the Catholics formed their own Center party to fight off attacks from the Protestants, such as the [[Kulturkampf]].

 

The British attempt to impose Protestantism on Ireland not only fueled the Catholic revival there but also contributed to its spread via emigration – not only to the U.S. and Canada, but also to Australia, New Zealand, and England itself, increasing the Catholic population in all of these. Quickly the Irish took control of the Church in each country and created a new system of schools, colleges, hospitals and charities.  The Poles, having lost their nation state in the 1790s, turned to an intense religiousity, that preserved national identity, and which they carried with them to industrial centers in the U.S. and Germany.

===Vatican II===

===Vatican II===