Why did the Pope during the Middle Ages say autopsies meant hell?
Why did the European Pope during the Middle Ages say autopsies meant hell for all Catholics who received them but now when Catholics die in Catholic hospitals, many are routinely autopsied?
What does that say about flip-flopping in the world of non-profit religions?
http://www.beliefnet.com/
2007-12-02 01:24:23 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
STILL haven't figured out yet that ignorance was rampant in the Middle Ages (including on the part of popes), and that we've learned a lot since then, huh?
2007-12-02 01:50:48 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance, the doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body, and maybe even a bit of doubt about the power of God.
+ Ignorance +
Most autopsies of the Middle Ages were done by medical students for training. The education of the most people did not explain what happened behind the closed doors of medical schools. Ignorance breeds fear.
+ The Resurrection of the Body +
How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. . . . But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Cor 15:12-14)
The Christian Creed, the profession of our faith in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in God's creative, saving, and sanctifying action, culminates in the proclamation of the resurrection of the dead on the last day and in life everlasting.
Apostles' Creed: I believe in ... the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.
Nicene Creed: We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Rom 8:11; cf. 1 Thess 4:14; 1 Cor 6:14; 2 Cor 4:14; Phil 3:10-11)
+ Doubt about the power of God +
Slowly the Church came to the realization that God could resurrect any body no matter its condition.
+ Growth +
Ignorance is grew less, belief in the power of God grew greater, and the doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body remained the same.
In the early 1300s, it was considered a crime to dissect the human body and there were criminal prosecutions of anatomy students for "body snatching."
Pope Sixtus IV, who was Pope from 1471 to 1484 issued an edict permitting dissection of the human body by medical students.
By the 1500s, the autopsy was generally accepted by the Catholic Church, marking the way for an accepted systematic approach for the study of human pathology.
For more information, see Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 988 and following: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art11.htm
This same line of reasoning also parallels the Catholic Church's previous dislike of cremation.
With love in Christ.
2007-12-02 14:37:40 · answer #2 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Apostles were burned, boiled in oil,stoned,
all kinds of horrible deaths
and they went to heaven
God will change the body at the rapture anyway
1corinth 15: 51 & 52
1 thes. 4:16 &17
2007-12-02 01:35:01 · answer #3 · answered by sioux † 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
When science and knowledge level go up, religious superstitions quietly fade away.... The Pope was aware of that.
Disections were a way to increase knowledge....
2007-12-02 01:33:26 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Desecration of the body
2007-12-02 01:27:20 · answer #5 · answered by Benny 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
That's just not true.
Do you own beliefnet.com or something?
2007-12-02 01:31:54 · answer #6 · answered by Misty 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋