Catholic World News News Feature

Understanding the Inquisition June 16, 2004

Even today, any mention of "the Inquisition" can produce a strong, visceral, negative reaction. The era of the Inquisition-- which stretched across six centuries-- is almost universally regarded as one of the ugliest chapters in the history of the Catholic Church.

But as a new Vatican study points out, the Inquisition must be understood in context, and judged against the standards proper to its own historical era. Jacques Chiffoleau, a French historian who took part in the recent Vatican study, argues that the Inquisition is "not an aberration or an accident of history, but a key element in the evolution of religious and political institutions in the Western world." Many of the lessons that can be drawn from a careful study of the Inquisition are still relevant today, he believes.

Actually, although the new Vatican study treats of "the Inquisition" as a single phenomenon, there were several different inquisitions, in different times and places, working in conjunction of different European governments. To understand them, and to understand the phenomenon in general, requires a grasp of the purposes for which "the Inquisition" was set up.

It was in the 13th century that the Holy See first established this new form of ecclesiastical courts, designed to fight the heresies that were sweeping across Europe at that time. The Inquisition was entrusted to the new religious orders that arose during the same era, the Dominicans and Franciscans, who exercised their authority under the direct control of the Vatican.

The first use of the Inquisition was against the Catharist heresy in France. From the perspective of Church leaders, the goal was not simply to correct these deviations from Catholic doctrine, but also to bring the heretics back into the Catholic fold. Pope Innocent IV (1243- 1254) first authorized an examination (or "inquisition") of suspected heretics by civil judges, and later by ecclesiastical courts. In these investigations-- contrary to the widespread belief of today-- the use of torture was not routine, in fact there was a strong presumption against it, although by the standards of the day the use of torture in public trials was by no means unusual.

Rather than extracting confessions from unwilling witnesses, the inquisitor was expected to use his skills as a preacher, to persuade heretics that they should recognize their errors and return to the Catholic faith. The conviction of a heretic, followed by his execution, was regarded as a failure for the preacher.

By today's judicial standards, the procedures of the Inquisition seem grossly unfair, since individuals could be brought to trial on suspicion of heresy, without being charged with any specific legal offense. Jacques Chiffoleau notes that charges could be brought be "simple denunciation, without evidence," and the individual might not have the opportunity to confront-- or even know-- his accuser. Nevertheless, the tribunals of the Inquisitions worked methodically to establish whether or not some concrete offense had been committed. Chiffoleau remarks that the clerics who ran the Inquisition were meticulous in pursuing evidence that heresy had been committed, "according to the preconceived ideas and stereotypes of what it meant to be a heretic." Thierry Levy, a practicing attorney in Paris, observes that the procedures established during the Inquisition can still be seen in the workings of some European judicial systems today. Among the similarities, he cites: "The figure of the prosecutor, who can decide whether or not to pursue an investigation; the secrecy of the process; the provisional detention of suspects for interrogation." He also points to the active role of the judge. The process of the Inquisition, he observes, is quite different from that of the Anglo-American judicial system, in which the prosecution and defense take active adversary positions, and the judge is a neutral arbiter.

The inquisitors, of course, were not responsible for the establishment of the system that gave them such sweeping powers. Some inquisitors were disturbed by the breadth of their authority. Jacques Chiffoleau points out that the Inquisition was set up at a time when "the Church, the papacy, and Christian society saw themselves as weak," and the threat of heresy seemed to call for extraordinarily vigorous responses.

The fundamental idea behind the Inquisition-- the notion that heresy should incur temporal punishment-- is almost as old as the Church. In the year 380, the Emperor Theodosius proclaimed Christianity the religion of the empire. Under his guidance, offenses against Church doctrine were classified as offenses against the state, and punished brutally-- even while the Church Fathers argued for spiritual rather than temporal atonement.

In the 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux argued emphatically that heresy should be counteracted by arguments rather than by force. But in the following century, St. Thomas Aquinas made the argument that a heretic is a rebel in two senses, since he challenges the law of God and also the law of God's appointed rulers (ecclesiastical or temporal) on earth, who have the duty to ensure the integrity of Christian doctrine. Those guilty of heresy should be punished with death, St. Thomas concluded.

The death penalty was certainly used by the Inquisition-- although not nearly so frequently as popular opinion today imagines. More frequently, those convicted or suspected of heresy were required to make some public acts of penance, such as the wearing of a yellow cross, or to make a pilgrimage; sometimes they were subjected to public scourging. Those who attempted to flee from the Inquisition, and those who were convicted of providing perjured testimony, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Only those who refused to recognize their errors were handed over to public authorities for execution.

"It is difficult to catalogue the victims of the Inquisition, because the source material is unclear," says Jacques Chiffoleau. But some inquisitors did send many people to their death; the historian cites the case of Bernard Gui, who is mentioned in Umberto Ecco's book, The Name of the Rose ; the records of the Inquisition show that he condemned 636 people in the 14th century.

Originally created by the Vatican, the Inquisition quickly became an instrument that served the purposes of secular rulers, and especially those of the absolute monarchs who governed Europe. In France, Philip the Fair (1268- 1314) used the Inquisition to suppress his enemies, the Knights Templar. The Inquisition was also used against St. Joan of Arc. Thus Chiffoleau says, "The Inquisition belongs to the history of Catholicism, to that of absolutism, and also to that of intolerance." The Inquisition was at its most active, and powerful, at a time when religious conflict was keen and often bloody. Catholics were not alone in meting out temporal punishment for religious offenses; in Protestant countries, thousands of people were burned as witches in the same era.

It was in Spain, particularly, that the Inquisition became a weapon used by the government, independent of the purposes set out by the Vatican. The Spanish Inquisition, particularly under the zealous Dominican Torquemada (1420- 1498), was used against Jews, Muslims, and any other opponents of the Catholic monarchy. The institution of the Spanish Inquisition had a powerful hold on the Iberian peninsula, which was not entirely loosed until it was finally and definitively suppressed in 1833.

The "Black Legend"-- particularly embellished in the case of Spain-- has nurtured some exaggerated ideas of the evils done in the name of the Inquisition. A more balanced historical approach to the Inquisition recognizes that it was established in the Middle Ages, at a time when the reigning political ideas were far removed from the current understanding of democratic government and impartial judiciary.

In 1998, in the quest for a more balanced understanding, the Vatican opened up the archives of the Inquisition to scholarly researchers. The archives maintained by the Holy See date back to the original establishment of these special tribunals in the 13th century.

Today, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the remote successor to the Inquisition. That office was originally set up as "the Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition" in 1542, and given the responsibility to fight against heresy. In 1908, Pope Pius X changed the name to the Holy Office. And in 1967, Pope Paul VI revised the duties of the office, and gave it the name that it bears today.