A major religious and political movement in the Catholic Church (16th-18th centuries) that responded to the Protestant Reformation with reforms and reassertion of Church authority.
From counter- + reformation, from Latin reformatio. Capitalized when referring to the specific historical period and movement.
The Counter-Reformation was when the Catholic Church essentially said 'we need to fix ourselves too'—they created seminaries, reformed clergy, and eliminated corruption, partly to win back Protestants and partly from genuine desire to improve.
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