"A Crisis for the Catholic Church"

The Protestant Reformation, which began in 1517, did significant damage to the power and influence of the Catholic Church. Prior to the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church had a monopoly on Christianity in Western Europe. If you were a Christian in any part of Europe west of Greece, you were a Catholic. By 1600, the majority of the population in many parts of northern Europe had converted to a denomination of Protestantism 

You can see the extent of the loss of territory by looking at the map at this link. Note that only the areas on the map that are light pink were not predominantly Catholic before the Protestant Reformation. All other areas were. On the map, the areas that remained under the influence of the Catholic Church in 1600 are colored yellow. 

For this discussion, I want you to consider the crisis that the Catholic Church faced as a business/marketing problem. Viewed in that light, the Catholic Church had lost a tremendous amount of market share due to the Protestant Reformation.

Imagine that it is 1600 and you have been hired as the new CEO (Pope) of the Catholic Church. What is your organization going to do to deal with this threat to their income and influence? Any solutions you propose must be possible given the available technology of the 17th century (no social media campaigns). Your solutions should be your own ideas based on your education and life experiences. Don't base them on what the Catholic church actually did to counter the Reformation.

Before you post your comments, review my expectations for substance and originality in your discussion posts that are explained in the Student Center. Remember you are expected to w rite a substantive initial post that responds directly to this topic and at least one response to a classmate's comment.