The Council of Trent was the formal response of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation. Over eighteen years, church leaders met to clarify Catholic doctrine and address corruption within the clergy. The council reaffirmed traditional teachings, such as the seven sacraments and the necessity of both faith and good works for salvation, while also standardizing the Latin Mass and improving priest education. This movement, known as the Counter-Reformation, succeeded in stopping the spread of Protestantism in southern Europe and Poland and led to a renewed missionary zeal, particularly through the newly formed Jesuit order. It solidified the divide between Catholic and Protestant Europe that persists today.