The Catholic Reformation,
on the one hand, unflinchingly reaffirmed all disputed doctrines and practices.
But tacitly it also accepted the legitimacy of some of the reformist criticisms.
Attempts were made to counter popular superstitions through catechizing. Serious
efforts were made to reform the structures of the Church so that it could be seen
primarily as a spiritual entity. Above all, as in the work of St. Ignatius Loyola
and the great Spanish mystics, it responded to that thirst for genuine interiority
that has been characteristic of believers in every age.
