FINAL WARNING: Setting the Stage for Destruction
war against the Albigensians, and the Cathari of Toulouse, killing
many.At the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1227, Pope Honorius III
sanctioned the Inquisition, and said that all heretics should be turned
over to the government, and their property confiscated. Catholics
sympathetic to the views of these groups were excommunicated. The
Inquisition sought to eliminate anyone who wasn’t Catholic and
refused to submit to the Pope. Christians were labeled as enemies of
the State. Torture was used to obtain confessions and information,
which was authorized by Pope Innocent IV in 1252. Christians were
tortured by hoisting them in the air to dislocate their shoulders, tearing
their arms out of the sockets. Other methods of torture included
lacerating their backs with spikes, suffocation, pouring oil on them and
setting them on fire. Female prisoners were often raped and beaten.
Most, however, were killed by being burned at the stake.The Roman Catholic Church had become so powerful, that through
their control of the royalty in Europe, the Church and State had
combined in an effort to make Catholicism the universal religion.In Spain, within an eighteen year period, the Chief Inquisitor,
Torquemada (1420-1498), imprisoned 97,000, and burned 10,200 to
death. From Spain, the Inquisition spread to northern Italy, southern
France, Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico, Latin America, Austria, and
Poland. In all, the massive campaign, which ran into the early 1800’s,
was believed to have claimed about 68 million victims.In the 1500’s, in order to get financing to build St. Peter’s Basilica in
Rome, ‘indulgences’ were sold. They were certificates, signed by the
Pope, which pardoned sins without confession and repentance.Martin Luther (1483-1546), who turned away from Catholicism after
reading the Syrian text of the Bible from Antioch, witnessed John
Tetzel (Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg) selling these
indulgences, and compiled a list of 95 ‘points’ against indulgences,
and nailed them on a church door on October 31, 1517, in Wittenberg,
Germany. Those siding with Luther were called ‘Protestants’ because
they protested the power of the Catholic Church. This initiated an era
that became known as the Reformation Period. In 1520, a Papal Bull