The protestant reformation was a religious movement that took place on the 16th century and was iniciated by Martin Luther and John Calvin among other protestant reformers. Its goal was to reform the Catholic Church.
During this time, the Catholic Church launched a Counter-Reform to fight the growth of protestantism.
The missionary work was key to achieve this goal. It concentrated on recapturing parts of the world that had been colonized by predominantly Roman Catholic countries, such as Spain and Portugal. And at the same time, important figures such as St. Francis Xavier and other missionaries moved into Asia and the Far East to continue to spread catholicism.
