Has the Catholic Church,?

Question

Ever formally apologosed for the Spanish Inquisition. I have read that 15% of the population of Spain were affected by it, and these people were Exiled, Imprisoned for life or Burnt alive.

Answer 1

Pastor Billy says: this is one of my favourite type of questions simply because it just shows how misinformed and misled people can be once they accept a perception as truth. First of all I highly question the 15% figure and absolute assumption of rampant wrong doing. The Spanish Inquisition for the most part was not evil or corrupt and secondly it was primarily a civil inquisition where people who did have a choice of appearing before the civil or ecclesiastical courts most chose the later because the sentencing was less severe.

Holy Father Pope John Paul II in the jublee year of 2000 asked forgiveness for ALL Christians (this includes non-catholics as well don't fool yourselves) who committed sins in the name of Christianity. He did not ask forgiveness for any teaching of the Church. If you've got a teaching which you wish to quiry I suggest you raise it but raising the Spanish Inquisition is not one of them.

The truth of this Inquisition is less than 10,000 people in over a period of 400 years were ever received a sentence of death for heresy and perversion of the Christian faith.
Try to remember that when the Spanish Inquisition started Spain had only just pulled itself to together as one nation. The last Islamic kingdom in the south had been beaten and the Moors were still a great fear of the monarchy and their continued rule.
People should not make such generalizations of wrong-doing without first studying the geo-political element to this story. Finally the Inquisition dealt with practising or in this non-practising Catholics not Protestants, not Jews, not Muslims.

Answer 2

It is very easy to talk about the Inquisition. And to make mistakes about it.
It is important to remember the Inquisition kept records on all its acts. These prove that the number of deads caused by the Inquisition was certainly lower than the deads the irrational persecution of witches, jews, muslims and anyone who dared to exist in a different way, that occurred in England (a much smaller and less populated country), during the same period of time, or in the USA since its independence.
Needless to say, the Queen won't apologise. Neither will do the President.
Well... the Pope did. Even though it was not his business. I'll explain:
The other thing to remember is the Inquisition was a State tool, submissive to the King/Queen. It was a political threat, rather than a religious argument.
The Pope had nothing to do with it.

Oh... 15%? You should question your sources: exile was not contemplated by the Inquisition. Numbers don't add up.
If that was true... there wouldn't be people alive right now!

Answer 3

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.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

I think John Paul made a few formal apologies. Nothing forth coming on the mountain of child molesting charges though. They are still aiding and abetting the perverts. If all their actions were in behalf of God, then "God" is an aweful horrid abomination. To admit any fault, would be to break the bank, so to speak. Maybe you should ask - imacatholic on this one.

Answer 5

The christians are so programmed to believe that Islam is
Voilent and spread by the sword that they fail to read the Facts of History where it was they who were labelled the
Fundamentlists and The history of the crusaders butchering the Muslims in spain Until not a single Muslim lived on its land
is a Fact and not fiction!

Answer 6

The Inquisition was not carried out in the name or spirit of the Church.

Answer 7

Have they apologized for the Crusades, the Santero wars in the Caribbean, or any of the other crimes against humanity they have perpetrated? The Catholic Church sees no need in apologizing. They do what they do in the name of God. They are using God like a trump card! What hypocrites! Have they even apologized for all the damn pedophiles amongst their ranks?

Answer 8

Yes,

John Paul II apologized and asked forgiveness for any bad that was done by the Church over the centuries.

Peace!

P.S., I became Catholic the next year.

Answer 9

Yes it was.

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

Answer 10

LOL........another Catholic basher, eh?

Have you apologized for asking this question?

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