THE INQUISITION (Part 1)

Someone recently made a comment about wishing that the “Holy Inquisition” was still around.  I found that to be a very strange and twisted desire and I think it speaks volumes about that person’s mental state.  But what about the Inquisition?  When we think about it, we conjure up images of people being tortured, body parts being cut off, people being stretched on “the rack” until their joints were dislocated, people being fed to wild animals and all sorts of heinous treatment. 

And these things did indeed happen.  These unfortunate people were usually first tried in court, yet many times the victims were not even able to confront their accusers, since the state kept their identity a secret.  But who caused this and why were these people treated in such a horrible manner?  What did they do to deserve this? 

Well, the Inquisition happened because the Catholic Church considered these “offenders” heretics who went against the teachings of the Church.  The Catholic Church claims that they were simply trying to remove heresy, and if that involved threatening “heretics” with using such severe tactics, causing obedience to the Catholic Church, then so much the better.

According to the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia (online), there were actually three different periods of “Inquisition” in history. 

The first one, in southern France in the early 1200’s A.D., was known as the Medieval Inquisition.  A little later began the Spanish Inquisition (probably the most infamous one) at about 1478 A.D.  And finally came the Roman Inquisition at about 1542 A.D.  See here:

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08026a.htm

But was the Inquisition really that barbaric, that horrific?  Maybe so, maybe not.  Some tell of extreme horror stories, of atrocities done against Protestants (and other groups) by the Catholic Church.  Others downplay the stories, asserting that these punishments were “necessary” to keep heresy at bay.

I would not doubt that some of those claims are most likely exaggerated.  But on the other hand, I would think that many of them are indeed true.

Admissions

One article on the Catholic Straight Answers website concerning the purpose of the Inquisition claims:

“Not only was a heretic’s soul in jeopardy, but also his false teaching jeopardized the souls of others.  The [Catholic] Church, as the guardian of souls, had to ‘root out’ any such heresy.”

This is actually an admission of the Catholic Church’s involvement in the Inquisition(s).  We need to remember this admission when they tell us that the Church had nothing to do with it, and that they simply turned over the “violators” to the state authorities to be punished. 

This article also admits that the Church and the state often “worked together in this endeavor,” since “the Roman Catholic Church was the only Church in western Europe until Martin Luther started the Protestant movement in 1517.”

I make this point because Catholics often try to push off the blame onto the state for such cruel abuse.  But when the Catholic Church turned someone over to the authority of the state to be punished, they knew exactly what to expect, so they can’t plead ignorance or innocence in this matter.  In fact, the Catholic Church brags that her authority is higher than the state’s authority.  Pope Nicholas I (858 A.D. – 867 A.D.) was quoted as saying:

“Fear, then, our wrath and the thunders of our vengeance, for Jesus Christ has appointed us with his own mouth absolute judges of all men, and kings themselves are submitted to our authority..."

See here:

https://popenicholas.weebly.com/quotes.html?c=mkt_w_chnl:aff_geo:all_prtnr:sas_subprtnr:1538097_camp:brand_adtype:txtlnk_ag:weebly_lptype:hp_var:358504&sscid=31k8_u2hf&utm_source=ShareASale

Also, according to Catholic priest, theologian, and church historian Johann Joseph Ignaz von Dollinger:

“It is the office of the Papacy to tread under foot kings and emperors.” (The Pope and the Council, London 1869, p. 339)

It is a well-known fact that kings/emperors/monarchs feared the pope because they knew that he could excommunicate them.  This gave the pope great leverage, since they feared for their souls and they believed that the Catholic Church could actually keep them out of Heaven.  

Here is a list of examples of kings/emperors/monarchs who were excommunicated from the Catholic Church:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_excommunicated_by_the_Catholic_Church

And here are examples of kings who were deposed (removed from office) by popes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_deposing_power

So, there is certainly blood on the Church’s hands and they can’t blame the Inquisition on the state.

A Catholic Event

The article by Catholic Straight Answers also states that after the Inquisition climaxed, it began a decline, which continued throughout most of Europe and was finally suppressed in 1834.

Ok, interesting thought here.  If the Inquisition was the right thing to do, if it was rooting out heresy (like the beginning of this article said it was), then why did it fade out?  Why did the Catholic Church allow the Inquisition to decline and be suppressed?  Didn’t they consider it God’s will to extinguish heresy and wouldn’t they try to continue with a new Inquisition?  Was there no one left in all Christendom at this time who was involved in heresy?  I believe that it stopped because the Church was losing its grip on its reign of terror and the people were seeing the truth of what was happening.

At the end of the article, it claims that the Inquisition was not a “Catholic event.”  But that contradicts what they said earlier about the Church being the “guardian of souls” and their responsibility to “root out heresy.”  But it is interesting that now they want to distance themselves from it?  Why?  Again, because they know it was wrong.

Torture

The article also admits that the Inquisition sometimes used torture to gain a confession of heresy, but not everyone thought that this was a moral thing to do:

“Bernardo Gui, one of the most famous inquisitors, commented that torture was deceiving and inefficacious because it forced the confession.” (Emphasis added)

I absolutely agree.

Furthermore, there is much quibbling today about the accuracy of the actual numbers of those killed.  But even if there was only ONE person wrongly killed, tortured or punished by the Inquisition, it was still too many!  Instead of arguing about numbers, how about showing some legitimate regret for those poor souls who suffered under the boot of the Church?  Indeed, the Catholic Church will have to answer for that.

See the article by Catholic Straight Answers here:

https://catholicstraightanswers.com/what-are-the-facts-about-the-inquisition/#:~:text=The%20Inquisition%20climaxed%20in%20the,being%20finally%20suppressed%20in%201834.

What Would Jesus Do?

The highly influential and very popular Catholic Answers website also weighed in on this topic of the Inquisition.  See their article here:

https://www.catholic.com/tract/the-inquisition

In their article, it states that the purpose of the Spanish Inquisition was:

“To identify conversos – Jews and Muslims who pretended to convert to Christianity for political or social advantage and secretly practiced their former religion.  More importantly, its job was also to clear the good names of many people who were falsely accused of being heretics.”

But what would Jesus Christ say about this?  How did He go about trying to “root out heresy” when He was here on earth?  Did He advocate the burning at the stake of those who didn’t obey what He taught?  No, He set no such example, nor did He encourage it.  But rather, He left that judgment for the afterlife.  He just preached the gospel.  Those who refused His message He neither chased nor punished.  They made their decision and they would have to live with it.

Also, 2 Peter 2:1-22 has some harsh things to say about the promoters of heresy, but suggests nothing about civil penalties or punishment in man’s court.  We could also mention 1 Corinthians 11:19, Galatians 5:20, and Titus 3:10, which all mention heresy, but say nothing about civil penalties for it.  I hope the reader can see a pattern here.  Heresy is wrong, but we don’t kill people for that today (in the New Testament).

Whitewashing the Inquisition

That Catholic Answers article goes on to mention two “Fundamentalist” authors who wrote about the Inquisition, claiming that they harbored fierce animosity toward the Catholic Church “that had little to do with the Inquisition itself.”  In other words, Inquisition or no Inquisition, they had an agenda against Holy Mother Church.  Well, maybe they had some hostility toward the Church, but remember again, this is the same Church who claims that her job was to “root out heresy,” thus, starting this whole reign of terror.  This doesn’t sound like a Church that had “little to do” with the Inquisition.  In my opinion the Catholic Church is indeed the cause of it all.

Right after that, the article states that some Catholics (knowing that something is amiss) have glossed over the admittedly incontrovertible facts and tried to whitewash the Inquisition, fearing that the facts about the Inquisition might prove the illegitimacy of the Catholic Church.  But the author goes on to assure Catholics that “no account of foolishness, misguided zeal, or cruelty by Catholics can undo the divine foundation of the Church.”

Well, I’m sorry, dear Catholics, but it is far too late for that.  The “divine foundation” of the Catholic Church is, and always was, a fallacy.  This whole blog (and many other sources) is a testament to that.  The events of the Inquisition are only one of the many things that points to the illegitimacy of the Catholic Church.  But more devastating than that, it is the God-breathed Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17) that clearly demonstrate the corruption, heresy and false teachings of this Church.  The Inquisition was only one symptom of the real problems.

Ok, I’ll stop for now and continue with Part 2 next time.  To be continued…