I think that one of the more interesting ways that some people argue against the Catholic Church is to throw out random facts about certain times in history that they believe the Church showed great weakness, unfaithfulness to God and even cruelty. Is this a valid way of debating people about their beliefs? Well, it seems as though it is a natural thing to do to point something out in an argument about someone that they cannot defend without feeling embarrassed about it. So it goes with arguments against the Church—one of the favorite being, “how could the Catholic Church allow something like the Inquisition to occur?” and then go on about all of the torture and killing that happened by the clergy.
My usual response to such a question would usually be something along the lines of explaining that the people in the Church are not perfect and it would be unjust to judge the entire Church on those few. But now, that argument doesn’t seem good enough. So, I looked online to see if there was something to help me better illuminate what it was that happened during the Inquisition. I came across a video by Real Catholic TV that gave an explanation which can be found at this link: http://www.stpeterslist.com/3159/4-sources-to-understand-even-defend-the-catholic-inquisitions/ (by the way, I actually don’t know much about Real Catholic TV or the host of the video, but I thought it gave an interesting way to give the info). These are some of the things I got from watching it:
To begin with, one of the points in the video is that we should consider the fact that during the Middle Ages, people took the soul and salvation very seriously and that false teachings should be gotten rid of. It is not like today, at least in the US, when people’s individual choices are their own business—if you don’t interfere, no one gets hurt. In an empire of believers, that is not the way to think. So, when people taught wrongly about the faith, the reaction from the people was severe. Sometimes, those who taught heresy were killed by those who did not appreciate their doing so. Therefore, something needed to be instituted in order to protect those who may be unjustly accused and a chance for those who are guilty to mend their ways.
How could a system that uses torture to get confessions and burning people as a punishment be considered as something that protects people? Well, instead of being attacked by an angry mob, those who were accused needed to give a list of people who could falsely accuse them and see if the accuser, whose identity was kept from the accused, was one of them. This was meant to persuade people from not falsely accusing others as they would be putting themselves in danger. Therefore, people were protected from the general public (if they were though guilty by them) and from the possibility of being punished by the Church (if they were falsely accused). According to Fr. John Vidmar, OP, in his book The Catholic Church Throughout the Ages, those who took the law into their own hands had ended and that “the number of those put to death for heresy was reduced dramatically” (Vidmar, 149).
Another way they were protected according to the video was that priests stayed at different towns in order for people who may have been guilty to go to confession and be reconciled with the Church before being accused. This is a great spiritual work of mercy on the part of the Church to offer this to sinners. This is a very far cry from the image of a hateful, unmerciful Church that is so often forced upon us.
Pope Innocent IV, as a last resort, had permitted torture to be used. And used it was—on 2% of those who accused and were accused—but not permitted for more than 15 minutes. Fray Tomas De Torquemada, who was in charge of the Spanish Inquisition, did not use it much, but he is often looked at as the worst example of one who used it. In fact, he was actually someone who wanted justice to be done.
Just from the few facts that are discussed here, we can see that there is more to the Inquisition than most people will want to or have the capability to understand, due to ignorance or even bigotry. I still can’t say that I’m totally not ignorant on the subject. After all, there were many abuses, which now brings me to my original argument that not everyone in the Church is a perfect and sinless person and that it is not just to blame the entire Church on the actions of a few evildoers. But armed with more knowledge than I had before, I can conclude that the Inquisitions were not as unrestrained and brutal as many have been led to believe. I would agree with what Fr. Vidmar said when he wrote, “The Medieval Inquisition was actually a considerable advance in the treatment of criminals” (Vidmar, 149).
Works Cited
“The Inquisition.” Real Catholic TV. Saint Peter’s List. 2010. Web. 23 October, 2012.
Vidmar, John. The Catholic Church Throughout the Ages. New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2005. Print.
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