This was followed by a series of religious conferences with the purpose of finding some means of reconciling the two confessions.

[Sidenote: Religious Colloquies] Among the first of these were the meetings at Worms and Hagenau.

Campeggio and Eck were the Catholic leaders, Melanchthon the spokesman for the Lutherans.
[Sidenote: 1540-1] Each side had eleven members on the commission, but their joint efforts were wrecked on the plan for limiting the papal power and on the doctrine of original sin.

When the Diet of Ratisbon was opened in the spring of 1541 a further conference was held at which the two parties came closer to each other than they had done since Augsburg.

The Book of Ratisbon was drawn up, emphasizing the points of agreement and slurring over the differences.