What if the Protestant Reformation never happened

Oh, citing countries with DIFFERENT religions makes sense.

I've taken courses in the evolution/progression of human thought. So, I'll leave this discussion, so you can debate the highly improbable.

I'll be the one to say it but you certainly didn't get your money's worth from those courses if they led you to the conclusion that Protestantism is inevitable.

Then again seeing as the rest of your comments read as some kind of compulsive belief despite any and all evidence to the contrary that:

Catholicism = bad and primitive
Protestantism = good and innovative

I'm fairly certain you've got some personal biases at work here. Personally, were I you, I wouldn't throw out that you've taken the courses that you have as though they make your opinion the most logical one in the thread, because it's far from it. You haven't given any solid argument as to why Protestantism is "inevitable" because of the evolution of human thought.
 
Indeed, the consideration that Catholics are backwards and lazy, while the Protestants are hard-working and innovators, is a deeply rooted modern assumption, which has entered the cultural zeitgeist, but the core and soul of this site is the pondering of the what ifs. Go back 500 years, and Catholics are the main source of innovation and progress.

You've got to consider, Catholicism today is a religious choice for many, but back in the 1450's, it was culture. It was not a choice; being born in France would 99% assure you'd become a Catholic, regardless of the opinions you formed. Ramon Llull, Hildegard of Bingen... they're Catholic because it's what they knew, but deep down they're Catholics in name only. It was not just their religion, it was their nation and their culture.

Catholicism aversion to change came from the menace of the Reformation, not before. And even then, it remained largely a myth. Progress wasn't a monopoly of Protestant countries, this is a myth that came out of the Industrial Revolution, which happened in coal and steel rich countries, which were, conveniently, mostly Protestant. Not much to do with their "work ethic".

Myths such as "the Dutch used his pirate treasure to re-invest it and become a millionaire and kickstart the Dutch India Company, while the Spaniard used his Mayan gold to buy an estate in Spain and live like a king for the rest of his days" are true, but not because of a different approach to work and morals, but because of a difference in how to approach the New World emigration and colonisation instead.

Sorry for the digression.

A Catholic Europe would not prevent, though, the appearance of nation-states, nationalism and liberalism. Humanism and the Enlightenment are products of Catholic Europe after all, I don't see why they would be butterflied away. Changed in some ways, different chronology maybe.
 
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