Question for Catholics ... malleus malificarum?

Question

Is the Malleus Malificarum still valid?

If it is, should witches today be tortured, questioned and killed as prescribed in this document?

As far as being sanctioned by the church, the inquisitors (Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer) who authored the malleus malificarum were recognized as official inquisitors in 'Summis desiderantes’ which also directs them to combat witchcraft. The Malleus was a part of their combat.

Whether or not it gained official recognition from Cologne, it was still used to a great extent and is probably one of the bloodiest documents in history.

BTW ... I'm a pagan as well, and not entirely ignorant of history.

Answer 1

The Malleus Maleficarum (The Witch Hammer), first published in 1486, is arguably one of the most infamous books ever written, due primarily to its position and regard during the Middle Ages. It served as a guidebook for Inquisitors during the Inquisition, and was designed to aid them in the identification, prosecution, and dispatching of Witches. It set forth, as well, many of the modern misconceptions and fears concerning witches and the influence of witchcraft. The questions, definitions, and accusations it set forth in regard to witches, which were reinforced by its use during the Inquisition, came to be widely regarded as irrefutable truth. Those beliefs are held even today by a majority of Christians in regard to practitioners of the modern “revived” religion of Witchcraft, or Wicca. And while the Malleus itself is largely unknown in modern times, its effects have proved long lasting.

As a Catholic, I have never heard of it ever spoken of during Mass or in any faith formation class.

Answer 2

+ Malleus Maleficarum +

Pope Innocent's Papal Bull of 1484 does direct Mr Sprenger and Mr Kramer to combat witchcraft in northern Germany but the assumption would be that they do it within the bounds set down by the Church.

According to the sources I found on the internet, Malleus Maleficarum was never authorized or approved by the Catholic Church.

The book's statements were not consistent with Catholic doctrine and one of the authors, Kramer, was condemned by the Inquisition in 1490, six years after the Papal Bull.

The writers also attached a forged letter of approbation from the University of Cologne ostensibly signed by four teachers there. The University had not approved the book, and had in fact condemned it for the use of unethical legal procedures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum

+ The Inquisition +

Modern historians have long known that the popular view of the Inquisition is a myth. The Inquisition was actually an attempt by the Catholic Church to stop unjust executions.

Heresy was a capital offense against the state. Rulers of the state, whose authority was believed to come from God, had no patience for heretics. Neither did common people, who saw heretics as dangerous outsiders who would bring down divine wrath.

When someone was accused of heresy in the early Middle Ages, they were brought to the local lord for judgment, just as if they had stolen a pig. It was not to discern whether the accused was really a heretic. The lord needed some basic theological training, very few did. The sad result is that uncounted thousands across Europe were executed by secular authorities without fair trials or a competent judge of the crime.

The Catholic Church's response to this problem was the Inquisition, an attempt to provide fair trials for accused heretics using laws of evidence and presided over by knowledgeable judges.

From the perspective of secular authorities, heretics were traitors to God and the king and therefore deserved death. From the perspective of the Church, however, heretics were lost sheep who had strayed from the flock. As shepherds, the pope and bishops had a duty to bring them back into the fold, just as the Good Shepherd had commanded them. So, while medieval secular leaders were trying to safeguard their kingdoms, the Church was trying to save souls. The Inquisition provided a means for heretics to escape death and return to the community.

Most people tried for heresy by the Inquisition were either acquitted or had their sentences suspended. Those found guilty of grave error were allowed to confess their sin, do penance, and be restored to the Body of Christ. The underlying assumption of the Inquisition was that, like lost sheep, heretics had simply strayed.

If, however, an inquisitor determined that a particular sheep had purposely left the flock, there was nothing more that could be done. Unrepentant or obstinate heretics were excommunicated and given over to secular authorities. Despite popular myth, the Inquisition did not burn heretics. It was the secular authorities that held heresy to be a capital offense, not the Church. The simple fact is that the medieval Inquisition saved uncounted thousands of innocent (and even not-so-innocent) people who would otherwise have been roasted by secular lords or mob rule.

Where did this myth come from? After 1530, the Inquisition began to turn its attention to the new heresy of Lutheranism. It was the Protestant Reformation and the rivalries it spawned that would give birth to the myth. Innumerable books and pamphlets poured from the printing presses of Protestant countries at war with Spain accusing the Spanish Inquisition of inhuman depravity and horrible atrocities in the New World.

+ Freedom of Religion +

Today the Church would actually fight to protect their freedom of religion.

In the Vatican II document, Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae (Human Dignity), the Church states:

The human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 3

um, I hate to inform you of this but the Catholic church never sanctioned this act.

The book itself was not specifically ordered by the Roman Catholic Church. The writers attached a letter of approbation from the University of Cologne ostensibly signed by four teachers there. However, this letter was a forgery. The University had not approved the book, and had in fact condemned it for the use of unethical legal procedures, and because its demonology was not consistent with Catholic doctrine.

Answer 4

The malleus maleficarum hasn't been in use for centuries.

Answer 5

You should look around you. If you did, you would see witches are not sought out, tortured or WHATEVER.