Of all the calumnies hurled against the Catholic Church by those opposed to her, allegations regarding the Inquisition are some of the most notorious. Yet history shows them, like the lies regarding the Crusades, to be false.
What Do People Claim Happened During the Inquisition?
It is common to claim that during the Inquisition, individuals accused of heresy were put on trial, and if found guilty, they could face punishments ranging from fines and public penance to imprisonment, torture, and even the most extreme punishment – execution.
The Spanish Inquisition is the most well-known and most frequently referenced. It was established in the late 15th century and allegedly targeted Jews, Muslims, and conversos (Jews who had converted to Christianity) who were suspected of secretly practicing their former religion. Anti-Catholic allegations claimed that thousands of people (if not more) were executed during this period, and many more faced expulsion or imprisonment.
What Was the Inquisition Really?
The Inquisition had its roots in the early 13th century, with the establishment of the Papal Inquisition by Pope Gregory IX in 1231. The Inquisition marked the formalization of an organized effort to combat heresy within the Church. The Papal Inquisition aimed to identify and suppress heretical movements, particularly those associated with the Cathars and other dissenting groups in southern France, whose ideas were infecting many. For instance, the Cathars believed suicide was good since it freed man’s soul from his body! They also believed there were two gods: A good one who presided over the spiritual world, and an evil one who ruled the physical world. Cathars viewed sex within marriage and reproduction as evil, though they supported fornication if done in secret! Such insidious ideas are harmful to all of society. Yet they don’t just affect the here and now, they have eternal ramifications as they lead souls to hell. Therefore, the rightful authorities, both Church and State, have a duty to suppress such evil errors. (See the article ‘Should Civil Society Outlaw Sin.’)
Over time, the Inquisition expanded and developed, leading to the establishment of various regional inquisitions. Each Inquisition had its own specific jurisdiction, procedures, and methods of operation, which resulted in differences in their histories and practices. The most well-known among them is the Spanish Inquisition, which was established by the saintly rulers Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1478.
There was also the separate Roman Inquisition which began in 1542. St. Robert Bellarmine is most well-known for his role as examiner of bishops and consultor of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition in 1597, where he was strongly concerned with discipline among the bishops. Created a Cardinal-priest on March 3, 1598 by Pope Clement VIII, St. Bellarmine continued to live an austere life in Rome, giving most of his money to the poor. At one point he used the tapestries in his living quarters to clothe the poor, saying that “the walls won’t catch cold.” Not what most people today would expect from someone leading an Inquisition!
The Inquisition continued to exist in some form until the 19th century, though its power and influence gradually declined over time. In 1908, Pope St. Pius X officially abolished the Holy Office of the Inquisition, replacing it with the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, which later became the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1965). Recently, in 2022, it was renamed to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Inquisition Is Frequently Confused
Perhaps the biggest error (lie) about the Inquisition is a failure to make proper distinctions. Just as Church and State can work together but are independent of each other, so too the Inquisition had an “ecclesial department” and a “secular department.” The ecclesial part was overseen by the Church, and it simply made rulings as regards doctrine. For example: ‘Is this person guilty of heresy?’ The Church would always provide an opportunity for someone to recant their heresy. If the person remained obstinate in guilt, the Church would then pass them to the secular department.
It is the secular aspect of the Inquisition, as an arm of the State, that rendered punishments. The State has legislative, executive, and judicial power in its sovereign territory. The State may enact laws governing heresy. In its judicial power it could render punishments, including the death penalty. And a governor or king could legitimately execute the proper punishment. The State has authority in all criminal cases, not just heresy, and the right to administer lawful punishments. Thus, the Church never condemned anyone to death (or even to punishment), rather it was always the State. If someone wants to attack the Inquisition for punishing heretics they would more accurately criticize a particular state, not the Church.
It is very difficult for people living today within a freemasonic atmosphere permeated by the separation of Church and State error to understand this distinction properly. In Catholic countries, state officials were naturally Catholics; some were even clergymen. Nevertheless, there is a real distinction between the authority wielded through an ecclesial power and the authority wielded through a secular power, and the two should not be confused. Sadly, those who wish to attack the Church can easily confuse this distinction, merge the two together, and condemn the Church for actions not her own but of the state.
The Much Maligned Spanish Inquisition
The secular arm of the Inquisition in Spain should be considered in its proper context. Spain was struggling for its nationhood. The Moors had unjustly invaded and conquered the land. Christian Spaniards fought for centuries to reconquer their homeland. Very often the advances made by the Christian monarchs were undone through betrayal. These traitors were frequently Moors and Jews, or apostate Christians who sought asylum among those religions. These same groups raised much civil unrest in Spain and continuously fostered a revolutionary zeal against the rightful authorities. It is no surprise that such individuals were seen as traitors to the nation and why they might be punished by death. (Every country has a history of punishing traitors with the death penalty.)
It is important to note that many lies have been spread about the Inquisition. Enemies of Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries spread these lies, which are frequently referred to as the [Spanish] Black Legend. People who read them today mistakenly assume they are true simply because they are centuries old; yet historians and propagandists were manipulating facts back then just as they do today.
Yes, there were excesses and unjust actions committed within the Spanish Inquisition. However, the numbers are grossly exaggerated. Moreover, the atrocities committed in Spain pale in comparison to the unjust ‘inquisitions’ carried out by Protestant monarchs in England and Calvinist Huguenots in France in the same centuries. Yet, people today rarely talk about those atrocities nor do they fairly compare them, even though they are historical contemporaries.[1]
The unbiased student of true history will quickly realize that both Catholics and Protestants were guilty of sins in their “inquisitions” (which points to the reality of original sin; man does have a sinful fallen nature), yet the Protestant ‘progroms’ were far more extensive, destructive, and merciless.
Other Resources
The interested reader may want to learn more through the following resources:
- Mozcar, Diane. Seven Lies About Catholic History. (TAN Books, 2010).
- Walsh, William Thomas. Characters of the Inquisition. (TAN Books, 1987).
- A talk titled, ‘The True Story of the Inquisition’ given by Christopher Check.
Solid catechisms and good catholic historical books, including Fr. Laux’s high school textbook series, can also be consulted on this matter of the inquisition and how the Church should best deal with heresy and heretics.[2]
For more on the “Defense of the Inquisition” against Protestant calumnies, see the article of Dr. Jean-Claude Dupuis originally published in 1999.
Conclusion
St. Teresa of Avila prayed ardently for the elimination of Protestantism throughout Christendom. Thus, through her prayers and the action of the Christian rulers, the Spanish Crown was spared the religious and civil wars which engulfed thousands of lives in 16th-century Europe.
By her prayers and the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may the Church once again find leaders willing to speak out against the errors which originated with Martin Luther and other Protestants – errors which included lies regarding the work of the Inquisition. And may these true shepherds work to bring those still ensnared by Protestant heresies into the bosom of the Catholic Church.
ENDNOTES:
[1] In his work, The Inquisitions as Addressed in “A Doctrinal Catechism”, Father Stephen Keenan asks: “Have Protestants any right to be perpetually harping on the Inquisition?” He answers the question thus: “As a matter of principle, they should come to the charge with clean hands; living, as they do, in glass houses, they should not throw stones. What difference is there between the jails, into which they cast thousands of Catholics, and the prison of the Inquisition; and what difference between the deaths the unhappy victims on both sides died? If Queen Mary put to death 277 Protestants for their rebellious opposition, Protestants have had ample revenge, through the first Protestant king, Henry VIII, who slaughtered 60 Catholics for denying his spiritual supremacy; and through their merciless Elizabeth, who persecuted – in most instances, to death; and in all, to utter ruin – 1200 Catholics, for their faith. And if Mary burnt her victims, Elizabeth hanged, quartered, disemboweled, and burnt hers. See, for other examples of persecution, Lingard, vol. viii, “Reign of Elizabeth”; and for the penal laws against Catholics. In fact, Catholics have experienced from the Protestants of these countries only one continued persecution, more or less intense. They have been permitted to fight for the honor of a country and the security of a crown, which, in return, gave them no encouragement, and, till very lately, scarcely any protection.
[2] Unbeknown to many, there are many catechisms, in many different languages. St. Peter Canisius, who was instrumental in fighting Protestantism in Germany, arguably wrote the first catechism in 1555, known as the Catechism of St. Peter Canisius. Shortly afterward in 1566, the Roman Catechism was commissioned by the Council of Trent, overseen by St. Charles Borromeo, and issued by His Holiness Pope St. Pius V. It remains the most authoritative catechism in print. Known as the Roman Catechism, the Catechism of St. Pius V, or also as The Catechism of the Council of Trent, this book has unfortunately fallen into extreme disuse, though it is making a resurgence in traditional communities.
The decades after the Council of Trent saw Fr. Laurence Vaux’s Catechism of Christian Doctrine published in 1567 and St. Robert Bellarmine’s Catechism published in 1597. Fr. Henry Tuberville followed with the Douay Catechism in 1649, which was modeled on The Catechism of the Council of Trent and written to help combat English Protestantism. It remains one of the clearest English-language catechisms ever written as it contains a simple-to-understand question and answer format. Fast forward to 1781 and Bishop George Hay published the extensive and heavily Scriptural-based Hay’s Catechism with a longer question and answer format. In 1846 Fr. Stephen Keenan published his catechism with the purpose of countering heresies of the time, especially in regard to papal infallibility. And one year later, in 1847, master catechist Fr. Joseph Deharbe wrote the most accomplished German catechism ever written, called A Complete Catechism of the Catholic Religion.
Throughout the mid-1800s additional catechisms by Fr. Francis Jamison, St. John Neumann, Fr. Patrick Power, Fr. Michael Muller, and Cardinal Gibbons were also published. Then in 1885, the bishops of the United States, enjoined by order of the Third Council of Baltimore, published the Baltimore Catechism, which was the most widely used catechism in the United States for more than a century, up until Vatican II. The notion that “Catechism” is the exclusive right of the 1992 text promulgated by Pope John Paul II is absurd.