Page "Counter-Reformation" Paragraph 10

The Council upheld the basic structure of the Medieval Church, its sacramental system, religious orders, and doctrine.

It rejected all compromise with the Protestants, restating basic tenets of the Roman Catholic faith.

The Council upheld salvation appropriated by grace through faith and works of that faith ( not just by faith, as the Protestants insisted ) because " faith without works is dead ", as the Epistle of St. James states ( 1 22: 26 ).

Transubstantiation, during which the consecrated bread and wine were held to be transformed wholly and substantially into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ, was also reaffirmed, along with the other six Sacraments of the Catholic Church.

Other practices that drew the ire of Protestant reformers, such as pilgrimages, the veneration of saints and relics, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary were strongly reaffirmed as spiritually commendable practices.

The Council officially accepted the Vulgate listing of the Old Testament Bible which included the deuterocanonical works ( also called the Apocrypha, especially by Protestants ) on a par with the 39 books customarily found in the Masoretic Text and the Protestant Old Testament.

This reaffirmed the previous Council of Rome and Synods of Carthage ( both held in the 4th century, A. D .) which had affirmed the Deuterocanon as Scripture.

The Council also commissioned the Roman Catechism, which still serves as authoritative Church teaching ( the Catechism of the Catholic Church ).