What was the objective of the Catholic Inquisition?

Answer 1

"We've got a good thing going here. The money is rolling in. Some people are starting to question things. We can't have that. We don't want the answers. We need to get rid of the questions. No one will dare to question getting rid of the people who asked the questions if we say they commited sins against God. We are the Church! We say what goes and what stays!"

Answer 2

To ensure a fair trial.

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 3

The inquisitions were to root out heresy of all make and manner..think gnosticism. the Spanish inquisition targeted protestants and jews.

The concept of the inquisition was created by a papal bull by pope lucius in the 12th century

Mel Brooks did a great job with the Spanish inquisition in the history of the world movie.

Answer 4

Decimation.
It was atime when there was a lot of corruption in the church and in man. I think it was also known as the Reighn of Whores in the papacy? I can't remember when that was. It was a pretty long time ago. You have to remember that the Chruch was THE power in the world. Scary isn't it?

Answer 5

It is an interesting time, but it cannot be described in a paragraph.

They were trying to convert people, and doing it in the wrong way, many of the tales of torture and killing were greatly exaggerated by anti-Christian groups.

But the Church acknowledges that time and has asked for forgiveness for those wrongs committed.

Do some more study here

www.Catholic.com

Peace!

Answer 6

Catholicism is a denomination that is filled with error. Being catholic or Methodist or any other denomination doesn't make one a Christian... excepting JESUS by faith as your personal savior does. I assure you there will be no denominations in heaven. Denominations was a trick of old slew foot to bring confusion and division to the body of CHRIST.
~GOD BLESS YOU AND LEAD YOU INTO THE LOVE OF GOD FOUND ONLY IN CHRIST JESUS THE LORD~

Answer 7

To provide Monty Python with joke material

Answer 8

In the words of the Emperor, "Wipe them out, all of them!"

Answer 9

To burn and kill anyone seen as a threat to religion. Scientists were the prime suspects, like in America today if the fundies had their ways...

Answer 10

boobies