Juan de Valdés and the Italian Reformation by Massimo Firpo

In the decades between the Sack of Rome in 1527 and the closing of the Council of Trent in 1563, a significant number of high-ranking Catholic clergy and aristocratic laypeople in Italy had hopes of reconciliation with Protestants and a re-unification of the Church. One of the bases for such hopes was their acceptance of the doctrine of justification by faith, a key premise of Protestant theology, but interpreted in such a way as to allow a role for most traditional Catholic practices. This position was inspired in large measure by the writings of the Spaniard, Juan de Valdés (c. 1500–41), and his immediate followers.