Hobble the Reformation

Most threads about the Reformation seem to focus on its impact on later events rather than the Reformation itself. It did not come out of nowhere and I don't think you could 'stop' it from happening without major butterflies.

So in what ways do you think the movement could have been at least hobbled? In terms of the movement itself and/or Catholic responses.

Pope Adrian VI, the last non-Italian pope until the 20th century, openly blamed the failings and corruption of the Roman curia for encouraging such heresy, however he ruled for only about 18 months (1522-1523) and was very much an outsider to Roman politics. He also attacked indulgences & dispensations.

Could, for example, a longer lived Adrian oversee a much earlier *Counter-Reformation? A *Council of Trent to codify Catholic doctrine and answer some of the reformers complaints, such as restrictions on indulgences?
 
Most threads about the Reformation seem to focus on its impact on later events rather than the Reformation itself. It did not come out of nowhere and I don't think you could 'stop' it from happening without major butterflies.

So in what ways do you think the movement could have been at least hobbled? In terms of the movement itself and/or Catholic responses.

Pope Adrian VI, the last non-Italian pope until the 20th century, openly blamed the failings and corruption of the Roman curia for encouraging such heresy, however he ruled for only about 18 months (1522-1523) and was very much an outsider to Roman politics. He also attacked indulgences & dispensations.

Could, for example, a longer lived Adrian oversee a much earlier *Counter-Reformation? A *Council of Trent to codify Catholic doctrine and answer some of the reformers complaints, such as restrictions on indulgences?
Killing Luther in the 1520s might also work. ISTR that until his refusal to recant at was it Worms? Most people, while acknowledging he had a point and that the church SHOULD reform, hadn't broken away yet. While Luther will likely become a martyr of sorts, the movement hasn't yet radicalized to the point where a break is inevitable. Once he dies - for sheer irony make it at the hands of his supporters trying to free him or something like that rather than the church sends Ezio (or some other assassin) to knock him off in the dark - the Reformation will - no doubt - radicalize, but the Catholic Church can take some of his suggestions to heart, while condemning others, and say "see, we are trying to change". And it gives them the added bonus of being able to essentially outright condemn anyone more radical (looking at you Karlstädt, Muntzer, Calvin and Knox) than Luther "while they decide"

That said, Adrian (or his successor - maybe let Kajetan be elected instead of Medici?) convening the TTL Council of Trent nearly two decades earlier (Karl V was pushing for it from before his imperial coronation already but both Clement VII and Paul III dithered on the matter. Not sure if this was due to Clement being political or if there were actual theological objections, because Paul - who was pro-Habsburg - was likewise not exactly breaking speed records to do it).
 
ISTR that until his refusal to recant at was it Worms?
Yes, Worms

The best way would be for the Church to listen to one of the many reformers (rather than killing them), and doing something about the Church's corruption (they did this during Counter-Reformation, but by then it was too late)
 
Yes, Worms

The best way would be for the Church to listen to one of the many reformers (rather than killing them), and doing something about the Church's corruption (they did this during Counter-Reformation, but by then it was too late)
See my point about a pope being more willing to call a council
 
I would recomend to read this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conciliarism
There's a historical reason why the popes were hesitant.
And yet the delay - and how long Trent sat for - was just as damaging for the Catholic Church. Had it sat in the 1520s/early 1530s, I don't say that there would've been less radical ideas coming out of it, but I do suspect that the extremism of the OTL religious wars would be more "fringe" than it was OTL.

@Torbald @Zulfurium @Milites @Jan Olbracht @Zygmunt Stary
 
And yet the delay - and how long Trent sat for - was just as damaging for the Catholic Church. Had it sat in the 1520s/early 1530s, I don't say that there would've been less radical ideas coming out of it, but I do suspect that the extremism of the OTL religious wars would be more "fringe" than it was OTL.

@Torbald @Zulfurium @Milites @Jan Olbracht @Zygmunt Stary

Well, I think if Luther himself dies before any prince adopted his stance that might help in delaying the Reformation
 
If the Habsburgs can decisively win the Thirty Years' War or equivalent for whatever reason (maybe France is busy elsewhere?) and England and Scotland stay Catholic (not that hard with the right PoDs), Protestantism would be mostly confined to parts of Northern Europe (N. Germany, Baltics, Scandinavia, and Netherlands). In such a timeline, the Reformation is probably not spread outside of Europe (except for possible Dutch or Scandinavian colonies), and Protestantism id probably viewed by most of the world as a northern equivalent of Orthodoxy, especially if the majority of Protestant countries follow the high church Lutheran models of the Scandinavian countries rather than some of the more radical branches.
 
And yet the delay - and how long Trent sat for - was just as damaging for the Catholic Church. Had it sat in the 1520s/early 1530s, I don't say that there would've been less radical ideas coming out of it, but I do suspect that the extremism of the OTL religious wars would be more "fringe" than it was OTL.

@Torbald @Zulfurium @Milites @Jan Olbracht @Zygmunt Stary
Of course, but people expected another Jan Hus out of Luther, of which there had been various; nobody really expected a fracture in Catholicism until it was there and people jumped on it for their own reasons.
 
If the Catholic Church hadn't become so corrupt in the first place that people felt that Reformation was necessary. Perhaps with the Papacy not being mainly swapped between a group of Italians for the benefit of themselves and their families?
 
Got another idea for a rather "late" POD: Reginald Pole (choice of Pope Paul III) gets elected pope instead of Paul IV. This sounds weird, but hear me out. Reggie was a big supporter of the Spirituali movement of reform within the Catholic Church. There were many aspects of the Spirituali that agreed with the Protestants (like "sola fidei" "solus Christus") - obviously there were differences as well, but you get the broad strokes. Paul IV, OTOH, hated both Reggie (who seems to have been something of teacher's pet to Paul III), the Habsburgs (even trying to excommunicate Karl V/Felipe II, who Reggie was also "tight" with) and most of all, the Spirituali. So the movement sort of puttered and died under Paul IV's more conservative brand of Catholicism. But what if, instead of moving the Protestant church closer to the Catholic, Reggie gets elected and the Catholic Church moves "closer" to the Protestant?
 
I will suggest the early Protestant Reformation was highly contingent on three inter-related events: namely the invention of the printing press, Luther, and having a young a fairly weak Holy Roman Emperor in the 1520s. Imagine that Luther gets struck by lightening in the early 1500s. I find it implausible that another reformer (Zwingli for example) would have been as charismatic. Similarly, if the Printing Press were invented a bit later (or was still very uncommon) Luther would not have been able to disseminate his message. Finally, had a strong Emperor been on the throne in 1520 (as Charles V would become) he would had had the ability to effectively suppress Luther.

Beyond this, later events could have healed the split (as they had healed the split a century before). Pope Reginald Pole provides an interesting possibility. Butterfly away the sacking of Rome so that the Pope is not under the thumb of Charles V (and thus grants Henry's divorce) and the reformation is far more likely to fizzle.
 
Got another idea for a rather "late" POD: Reginald Pole (choice of Pope Paul III) gets elected pope instead of Paul IV. This sounds weird, but hear me out. Reggie was a big supporter of the Spirituali movement of reform within the Catholic Church. There were many aspects of the Spirituali that agreed with the Protestants (like "sola fidei" "solus Christus") - obviously there were differences as well, but you get the broad strokes. Paul IV, OTOH, hated both Reggie (who seems to have been something of teacher's pet to Paul III), the Habsburgs (even trying to excommunicate Karl V/Felipe II, who Reggie was also "tight" with) and most of all, the Spirituali. So the movement sort of puttered and died under Paul IV's more conservative brand of Catholicism. But what if, instead of moving the Protestant church closer to the Catholic, Reggie gets elected and the Catholic Church moves "closer" to the Protestant?
Eh, that would be a good idea (I used an ATL analogue of Pole and his OTL and ATL friend Giovanni Morone, in a different contest as reformers of the Church in Lotharingia), but I fear who the only way for having either Pole or Morone being elected Pope is eliminating Carafa (aka Paul IV) BEFORE the death of Paul III (if that is also BEFORE the start of the Council of Trent would be better) as his accusations (also in the Conclaves) made impossible an election for either of the Spirituali. With a member of the Spirituali as Pope (and possibly a Council of Trent who had NOT started with dogmatism but trying to reunite to Church) is possible seeing the breach between Catholics and Protestants healed and possibly closed, instead of losing any chance of resolution
 
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I think the emergence of the Protestant Reformation was a result of systemic issues; plenty of reformers like Luther had come and gone, and it was only a matter of time till one of them really stuck. The Catholic Church could've conceivably mitigated it by quickly addressing some of the concerns expressed by these reformers, and clamping down hard on the issues the Catholics would not budge on (e.g., no translation of the Bible into the vernacular).
 
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