b. Pope Urban II at Clermont in 1095
first called for Crusade. Its formal
title was peregrinatio in armis,
“armed pilgrimage”—and had as its
objective the freeing of the Christian
holy places in Jerusalem from the
Muslims. This “war” was garlanded
with the Church’s spiritual reward
and indulgences for those who vol-
untarily participated in this and later
attacks against Muslim lands.
c. When Innocent IV was elevated to
the papacy in 1243, he defined the
Church’s position on attempts to
force the Muslims to convert—
though non-believers may not be
coerced into conversion, the Pope,
as Vicar of Christ on earth, had the
authority to order even non-Christian
powers to admit preachers of the
Gospels into their lands, and if they
refused, to authorize Christian states
to use force to effect their entry.
d. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa
Theologina (1265-1271), echoes
Innocent’s reasoning and adds three
other reasons that justify a state’s use
of force against the infidel.
THECRUSADES
In 1095, Pope Urban II called
on Christian princes in Europe
to go on a crusade to rescue
Jerusalem from the Turks, thus
launching the First Crusade.
The results of the First
Crusade included the establish-
ment of an independent Latin
kingdom in Syria-Palestine and
three military orders for protect-
ing pilgrims and the holy sites.
The Muslims under Salah al-Din
retook Jerusalem in 1187. A
total of seven crusades were
eventually launched, the last
ending in 1291.
The most visible mark of cru-
saders was the red cross,
which the volunteers wore
either as a single cross or as a
larger cross with four smaller
ones around it, representing the
five wounds of Christ.© clipart.com