The Affair of the Placards was an incident involving anti-Catholic posters which appeared in public places in Paris, France during the night of October 18, 1534. It marks the end of the conciliatory policies of Francis I, who had formerly attempted to protect the Protestants from the more extreme measures of the French Parlement. The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in Leap years). ... Events May 10 - Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage. ... Francis I (French: François Ier) (September 12, 1494 – July 31, 1547), called the Father and Restorer of Letters (French: le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres), was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Parlements (pronounced in French) in ancien régime France — contrary to what their name would suggest to the modern reader — were not democratic or political institutions, but law courts . ...

The author of the placards is not known; but traditionally, the French Protestant leader Guillaume Farel is thought to have been the chief inspiration, if not the direct author of the papers. They were an open attack on the Mass, the central ritual of the Roman Catholic Church, entitled "True articles on the horrible, great and insufferable abuses of the papal mass". The polemic against the Catholic church was an embarrassment to the pro-reform Catholics, and the immediate public outcry necessitated the flight of several prominent Protestant leaders, including John Calvin. Categories: Stub | 1489 births | 1565 deaths | French theologians | Reformed theologians ... Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) presiding at the 2005 Easter Vigil Mass in place of the dying Pope John Paul II. Mass is the term used of the celebration of the Eucharist in the Latin rites of the Roman Catholic Church. ... The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian body in the world. ... John Calvin (July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564) was a prominent Christian theologian during the Protestant Reformation and is the namesake of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism. ...