<P> In 1685 gallicanist King Louis XIV of France issued the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, ending a century of religious toleration . France forced Catholic theologians to support conciliarism and deny Papal infallibility . The king threatened Pope Innocent XI with a general council and a military take - over of the Papal state . The absolute French State used Gallicanism to gain control of virtually all major Church appointments as well as many of the Church's properties . State authority over the Church became popular in other countries as well . In Belgium and Germany, Gallicanism appeared in the form of Febronianism, which rejected papal prerogatives in an equal fashion . Emperor Joseph II of Austria (1780--1790) practiced Josephinism by regulating Church life, appointments, and massive confiscation of Church properties . </P> <P> In what is now the Western United States, the Catholic Church expanded its missionary activity but, until the 19th century, had to work in conjunction with the Spanish crown and military . Junípero Serra, the Franciscan priest in charge of this effort, founded a series of missions and presidios in California which became important economic, political, and religious institutions . These missions brought grain, cattle and a new political and religious order to the Indian tribes of California . Coastal and overland routes were established from Mexico City and mission outposts in Texas and New Mexico that resulted 13 major California missions by 1781 . European visitors brought new diseases that killed off a third of the native population . Mexico shut down the missions in the 1820s and sold off the lands . Only in the 19th century, after the breakdown of most Spanish and Portuguese colonies, was the Vatican able to take charge of Catholic missionary activities through its Propaganda Fide organization . </P> <P> During this period the Church faced colonial abuses from the Portuguese and Spanish governments . In South America, the Jesuits protected native peoples from enslavement by establishing semi-independent settlements called reductions . Pope Gregory XVI, challenging Spanish and Portuguese sovereignty, appointed his own candidates as bishops in the colonies, condemned slavery and the slave trade in 1839 (papal bull In supremo apostolatus), and approved the ordination of native clergy in spite of government racism . </P> <P> Christianity in India has a tradition of Thomas establishing the faith in Kerala . They are called St. Thomas Christians . The community was very small until the Jesuit Francis Xavier (1502--1552) began missionary work . Roberto de Nobili (1577--1656), a Tuscan Jesuit missionary to Southern India followed in his path . He pioneered inculturation, adopting many Brahmin customs which were not, in his opinion, contrary to Christianity . He lived like a Brahmin, learned Sanskrit, and presented Christianity as a part of Indian beliefs, not identical with the Portuguese culture of the colonialists . He permitted the use of all customs, which in his view did not directly contradict Christian teachings . By 1640 there were 40 000 Christians in Madurai alone . In 1632, Pope Gregory XV gave permission for this approach . But strong anti-Jesuit sentiments in Portugal, France, and even in Rome, resulted in a reversal . This ended the successful Catholic missions in India . On September 12, 1744, Benedict XIV forbade the so - called Malabar rites in India, with the result that leading Indian castes, who wanted to adhere to their traditional cultures, turned away from the Catholic Church . </P>

When did the catholic church become the roman catholic church