his congregation continued to retain by preference the name of "Christian Catholics", which they had originally assumed. Beliefs German Catholics adhered to a very simple creed, in which the chief beliefs were: God the Father, creator and ruler of the universe. Jesus Christ the Saviour, who delivers from the bondage of sin by his life, doctrine and death. The operation of the Holy Ghost. A holy, universal, Christian church. Forgiveness of sins and the life everlasting. Politics Many of the German Catholics were involved in politics. Ronge himself was a foremost figure in the troubles of 1848. In Austria, and ultimately also in Bavaria, the use of the name "German Catholic" was officially prohibited, with that of "dissidents" being substituted, while in Prussia, Baden and Saxony the adherents of the new creed were put under various disabilities, being suspected of both undermining religion and encouraging the revolutionary tendencies of the age. Later developments A second council in Leipzig, which met in May 1850, had to be transferred to Köthen on account of the interference of the police. It proposed an alliance with the Free Congregations, which had formed themselves by secession from the Protestant churches, and the election of a joint executive committee from both denominations, which was to act as a presiding board until the meeting of a triennial diet, which was appointed for 1852, but it did not meet. In June 1859, the representatives of the German Catholics and Free Congregations met at Gotha, where a union between the two parties was effected under the name of Bund freireligiöser Gemeinden (Confederation of free religious congregations). It was proposed that the confederation admit all free Protestant and even Jewish congregations. Legislation in the different states had become more tolerant, and the carrying out of the scheme of the council of Gotha seemed to be at least practicable. But the result proved otherwise. The confederation consisted of too heterogeneous elements. While some of the members receding further and further from orthodoxy proclaimed simple design as their religion and abolished baptism and the Lord's Supper, others on the contrary lost themselves in an exaggerated mysticism. Many of the congregations which were formed in 1844 and the years immediately following dissolved, including that of Schneidemühl itself, which ceased to exist in 1857. The majority of the German Catholics joined the national Protestant church. As of 1911, there were only about two thousand