On the Inquisition

Part 3 By Raymond de Souza, KM

Answering More Objections

2nd objection: Were the penalties of the Inquisition too harsh?

The answer is simple: if we wish to judge – by modern standards – the penalties inflicted by the Inquisition on heretics and enemies of Church and State, yes, they were undoubtedly severe. Penalties in our time are, more often than not, so lenient that they do not deter crimes, as the ever growing prison population proves ad nauseam. And yet, the penalties were no means harsh in the terms of the standards of the time.
Was the death sentence applied? Yes, it was. However, unlike the practice of the civil courts, the Inquisition often admitted appeals against the sentence, while most civil courts allowed no ap­peal against sentences for certain crimes. Truth is that relatively few encounters with the Inquisition ended at the stake. This was a fate reserved for the relapsed, the impeni­tent, and those convicted of attempting to overturn certain central doctrines of the Church and threaten the stability of the State. But even in these cases lesser forms of punishment often prevailed. The lesser punishments were generally medicinal and spir­itual: public abjurations of error, penances, work in a charitable institution, a cycle of prayers and devotions, pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela or the Holy Land. The goal was the conversion of the heretic, not his destruction.
But who were the ones who were burned alive? That’s the question most often asked. If we leave aside the exaggerations of the anti-Catholic historians, it was only those unrepentant to the end who were burnt alive. The most common execution of dangerous heretics was made by hanging or beheading, long before the burning at the stake. But those overcritical historians systematically ignore the care taken by the Church took regarding conditions in Inquisition prisons.
I insist in reminding readers that the activity of the heretics was also criminal: When Christianity became the religion of the Empire, and still more when the peoples of Northern Europe became Christian nations, the close alliance of Church and State made unity of faith essential not only to the ecclesiastical organization, but also to civil society.
This is an important reality in those times: Heresy was a crime which secular rul­ers were bound in duty to punish. It was regarded as worse than any other crime, even that of high treason. For society in those times, allowing heresy to flourish, was the equivalent of allowing an­archy.
3rd Objection: The Catholic Inquisition was unique in History, as Protestants always respected the right of other people to interpret the Bible as they felt the Holy Spirit inspired them.
Reply: This is absolutely untrue, to put it mildly. First of all, Protestant punished their opponents exactly as Catholics dealt with theirs, but often far more cruelly, especially with sessions of pro­longed torture on the rack. But do not think that those killed by the Protestant Inquisition were only Roman Catholics. Not at all! For instance, some Protestants regularly put Unitarian heretics to death for their heresy of disagreeing with the Protestant particular interpretation of the Bible! Those who preached the Bible alone with no Church magisterium made themselves their own magisterium and punished others who had their own interpretation of the Bible. Consistency was definitely in short supply those days.
For ex­ample, Calvin had Michael Servetus burnt at the stake in 1553; King James I, an Anglican, had two Unitarian heretics burnt at the stake in 1612; in Scotland, the Presbyterians hanged Unitarians until as late as 1696.
I insist on this point: The Protestant Inquisition was unjust not only by the excessive cruelty of their methods, but especially because it was contradictory: they preached the Bible alone, but it should only be interpreted as they did. They did not admit the Magisterium of the Church founded by Jesus Christ, but imposed a ‘magisterium’ of their own; yes, their severity of Protestants was indefensible, on their own grounds, since they maintained the liberty of private judgement and, therefore, admitted that their victim might be right and they themselves wrong. The Catholic Church never admitted the Bible alone, and was therefore consist­ent with her doctrine that She alone possess divine truth. Therefore, the heretic working amongst Catholics is necessarily a source of moral or spiritual infection, a slayer of souls, and is consequently, more dangerous than the thief or murderer.
It is easy for supposedly ‘charitable’ people today – even inside the Catholic Church – to criticize a ‘severity of the Inquisition in its attempts to eliminate error and evil from the midst of God’s people. Like in every human undertaking, there were abuses in the Inquisition. At times a penalty was more severe than the criminal deserved. There was a specific instance when a totally innocent person was burned at the stake – Saint Joan of Arc, the glorious Patroness of France! But abuses were rare, as the historical record proves it. And yet, the abuse does not destroy the use – the Church was always at work to prevent abuses and exercises Justice.
But are our times truly better? What will future generations think of the abortion industry, murdering millions of pre-born people every year? Just because it is “legal”? And the forced sterilization of women and men the enforced steriliza­tion of handicapped people; the involuntary euthanasia of people deemed ‘useless’ (well documented in several countries, but never are the guilty doctors prosecuted); the destruction of children’s innocence through expo­sure to obscenity; the glorification of base immorality and gratuitous violence under the name of ‘entertain­ment’; the idolization of ‘stars’ who lead lives of sheer depravity; the widespread sale of mind-destroying drugs; the plague of divorce and the attendant aban­donment of children; the degradation of motherhood and family; the relegation of many old people to a life of loneliness and isolation; the bombing of entire cities in wars—and countless other modern evils unimagined by past generations.
Add to this the crisis in the faith inside the Church herself, where we find heresy and teachings dissenting from the Gospel teaching spread everywhere by laymen and women, priests, bishops and even Cardinals! And this smoke of Satan goes on with impunity in so many places…!
Today’s critics of the Inquisition are, more often than not, like the Pharisees of old: do as I say, don’t do as I do… and Jesus called them hypocrites, whitewashed sepulchers and race of vipers!
Oh, yes, in comparison with today’s evils, the Inquisition was very moderate and lenient indeed!
Last but not least, even if we suppose that the Inquisition was horribly severe according to the anti-Catholic accusation, in the final analysis is does not touch the Church’s infallibility in her teaching Magisterium. It would only condemn the behavior of some of her members. It also proves that the misbehavior of some Catholics does not affect the vitality and growth of the Church in number and virtue, and the many saints prove ad nauseam. The parable of the fishermen shows that in the kingdom of God (the net) there are both good and bad fish…
David committed adultery and murder, and yet he is called a ‘Man after God’s own Heart” in the Bible. His religion remained untouched. Even the Apostles you find wrongdoings: the man in charge of the purse sold Jesus out; the first Pope denied Jesus three times; and the other ten run away like chickens when the going got tough… what a sorry lot Jesus chose to work with Him! And yet they were the Apostolic College, the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Raymond de Souza KM is available to speak at Catholic events anywhere in the free world in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Please email SacredHeartMedia@Outlook.com or visit www.RaymonddeSouza.com or phone 507-450-4196 in the United States