Abstract
‘From Christopher Columbus to the present’ explores what it has meant to be Catholic over the last 500 years. The expansion of Europe led to a wave of missionary activity, and Catholicism was established everywhere in Central and South America and in much of Asia. In the 16th century, grave abuses in the Catholic Church led to the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing salvation by grace, through faith, and stressing the authority of scripture. The Catholic Church’s response, the Council of Trent, reshaped Catholicism up to the end of the 18th century and even into the 20th century. The contrasting papacies of the most recent Benedict XVI and Francis are also discussed.
