29 January 2013 Celmer Santos and Jaime Dumaliang

Background
Saint Augustine as the first Theorist of Inquisition

" Although Augustine always maintain that the final, individual act of choice had to be free in order to be effective, he also argued that, in many circumstances, such a choice needed to be prepared by processes which individuals did not necessarily chose for themselves. These processes, moreover, were often imposed on individuals against their will" 12th Century - Chatharism (from greek word purity)
It regarded the whole of the material world, and especially the human body, as the evil creation of satan.

Church Response
Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine The Church abhors the shedding of blood Condemned by St. Bernard and by Gerhoh of Reichersberg

Remained true even after increasing numbers of rulers and bishops begun to execute heretics from the eleven century onwards

Turning Point
1224 Emperor Frederick II made heresy punishable by burning His motive is a combination of an attempt to cover up his own manifestly doubtful orthodoxy and subtle tactic to assert his authority in religious matters at the expense of the Church. 1231 Official foundation of the Inquisition Pope Gregory IX appointed a special commission to ensure that the inquisition remained under the authority of the Church. A Bold decision in the side of the Church to stop Emperor Frederick

Medieval Inquisition

Pope Gregory Appointed permanent judges who were given special powers to execute doctrinal functions in the name of the Pope. Dominican and Franciscan friars answerable directly to the pope Could arrest suspects on the testimony of two anonymous witnesses Ecclesiastical Penances
Wearing of a Badge of shame

Abuses
Robert le Bougre (a convert from Catharism) - ordered the burning en masse (nearly 200 perfecti in 1239) 1252 onwards Judicial Torture was introduce which is a serious breach with the Churchs tradition of opposing torture Witchcraft Most harmful development was the effort of inquisitors to address the witchcraft 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued the extraordinary Bull Summis Desiderantes through the influence of two leading anti-witch Inquisitors in Germany: the Dominicans Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. At this time, the official Church hierarchy contributed substantially to the formation of a persecuting mentality across Europe 25,000 (estimate) people may have been burned in Germany alone

Medieval Inquisition

Unbalanced Picture
Pope Gregory IX immediately removed Robert le Bourgres from office and imprisoned him for life Numerous manuals was produced in the 14th century; notably those of Bernard Gui and Nicolas Eymeric, were serious and meticulous attempts to secure justice.
Results
safer trial for the accused in Inquisitorial courts than in secular ones 42 accused only out of 930 sentences by Bernard Gui in Toulouse in the early 14th century was delivered to the secular authorities for capital punishment Henry Charles Lea, a protestant historian, confirmed that the numbers are relatively few after an exhaustive study of the available documentation.

The Spanish Inquisition

Conversos Ferdinand as King of three religions Hundred Years war and Economic Problems
Successful Jews living in larger urban centres became the escape goats for this problem. June 1391 The Pogrom or violence against Jew & the Black Death Many Jews converted to Christianity to survive the pogrom which resulted to another even more delicate problem. Pope Sixtus IV formally established the Inquisition in 1478 upon the request of Ferdinand and Isabel to address the religious issue on false conversos. 1484 Torquemadas Ordenanza 1492 - the expulsion of the 100,000 Jews from Spanish land 1500s Auto de fe

False Conversos

Moriscos (Converted Muslims) 1497 the end of over 700 years of Muslim occupation of Granada Talavera - Conversion through preaching and careful instruction 1499 Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros - policy of forced conversions and baptism en masse. 1502 The Cardinal persuaded the Catholic Monarch to expelled all unconverted adult muslims from the peninsula. 1504-1560s a fatwa in Aljamiado script April 9, 1609 King Philip III approved the decree of expulsion of Spanish moriscos.

The Spanish Inquisition

The Alumbrados (the enlightened ones) 1510 the Inquisition started to discover the Alumbrados Divine revelation was communicated by God to individuals. Protestantism 1557 substantial Protestants were exposed in Seville and Valladolid, an event that shock waves across the peninsula. Charles V, from his retirement, penned a famous letter to his daughter Juana with a conclusion that states Believe me, If so great an evil is not suppressed and remedied without distinction of persons from the very beginning, I cannot promise that the King or anyone else will be in a position to do it afterwards Autos de fe in Valladolid and Seville 1559-1566 Spanish Inquisition condemned just over a hundred convicted protestants to be burnt at the stake relatively fewer than the other
French under Henry II at least twice English under Mary at least three times

Galileo Case

One stock argument against the Church according to Cardinal Newman 1473-1543 Polish Astronomer Nicholas Copernicus 1564-1642 Galileo made Important astronomical observations with his telescope. 1610 Father Christopher Clavius wrote to tell Galileo that his fellow Jesuit astronomers had confirmed his discoveries. Galileo wrote to a friend I have been received and shown favour by many illustrious cardinals, prelates, and princes of this city He enjoyed a long audience with Pope Paul V, and the Jesuits of the Roman College held a day of Activities in honor of his achievements. 1612 Galileo published his letters on the Sunspots, in which he espoused the Copernican System for the first time in print. One of the many enthusiastic letters of congratulation he received came from Cardinal Mafeo Barberini, who later became Pope Urban VIII.
Introduced that the Sun is the Center of the Solar System rather than the Earth as opposed to the Ptolemy (87-150 A.D)

Galileo Case
Jerome Langford, among the most judicious modern scholars of the subject summarize Galileos position; Galileo was convinced that he had the truth. But objectively he had no proof with which to win the allegiance of open-minded men. It is a complete injustice to contend, as some historians do, that no one would listen to his arguments, that he never had a chance. The Jesuit astronomers had confirmed his discoveries; they [waited] eagerly for further proof so that they could abandon Tychos system and come out solidly in favour of Copercanism. Many influential churchmen believed that Galileo might be right, but they had to wait for more proof 1624 Pope Urban VIII told Galileo that the Church had never declared Copernicanism to be heretical, and that the Church would never do so. 1632 Galileos Dialogue on the Great World Systems was published. It was written at the urging of the pope, but galileo ignored the instruction to treat Copernacanism as a hypothesis rather than as established truth. 1633 Galileo was declared suspected of heresy and was ordered to desist from publishing on Copernicanism. It is important, however, not to overstate what took place. As J.L. Heilbron explains:
Informed contemporaries appreciated that the reference to heresy in connection with Galileo or Copernicus had no general or theological significance. Gassendi, in 1642, observed that the decision of the cardinals, though important for the faithful, did not amount to an article of faith; Riccioli, in 1651, that heliocentrism was not a heresy; Mengoli, in 1675, that interpretations of Scripture can only bind Catholics if agreed to at a general council; and Baldigiani, in 1678, that everyone knew all that.

John Paul IIs Apology

The Church should kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the past and present sins of her sons and daughters Original Text from Tertio Millennio Adveniente (1994 Encyclical Letter) 35. Another painful chapter of history to which the sons and daughters of the Church must return with a spirit of repentance is that of the acquiescence given, especially in certain centuries, to intolerance and even the use of violence in the service of truth. It is true that an accurate historical judgment cannot prescind from careful study of the cultural conditioning of the times, as a result of which many people may have held in good faith that an authentic witness to the truth could include suppressing the opinions of others or at least paying no attention to them. Many factors frequently converged to create assumptions which justified intolerance and fostered an emotional climate from which only great spirits, truly free and filled with God, were in some way able to break free. Yet the consideration of mitigating factors does not exonerate the Church from the obligation to express profound regret for the weaknesses of so many of her sons and daughters who sullied her face, preventing her from fully mirroring the image of her crucified Lord, the supreme witness of patient love and of humble meekness. From these painful moments of the past a lesson can be drawn for the future, leading all Christians to adhere fully to the sublime principle stated by the Council: "The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it wins over the mind with both gentleness and power".(19)


Sources: The Inquisition by Fernando Cervantes Tertio Millennio Adveniente (1994 Encyclical Letter) Catholic Church: Builders of Civilization by Tomas Woods


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