The Counter-Reformation can be said to begin…
1540 CE
The Counter-Reformation can be said to begin in 1540, when Pope Paul III approves Ignatius Loyola’s rule of life for his proposed new religious order, the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits.
The opening lines of the bull containing the Formula of the Institute declare that the Society of Jesus has been founded to "strive especially for the propagation and defense of the faith and progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine."