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e judged and killed.” In 1200, the Pope instructed a Spanish priest named Dominique de
Guzman (1170-1221) to form an Order to vanquish all opposing religious groups. In 1215, these
Dominican monks (Order of the Friar Preachers, or Black Friars), known as the ‘Militia of
Christ,’ were dispatched to speak out against the Albigensians (a semi-Christian group prominent
in France, which had Manichaean influence, as did the Cathari), who condemned the Catholic
Church for worshipping images. A missionary, Peter of Castelnau, was sent to preach against the
Albigensians, who killed him, and in 1208, in response to the murder, the Pope instigated a holy
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 was issued, that officially
excommunicated Luther. It called for his death because of his heresy, unless his document was
retracted within 60 days. He publicly burned the Order. He went on to translate the New
Testament into German, and soon the Lutheran religion (derived from his last name) became the
dominant religion in northern Germany.
William Tyndale (1494-1536) translated the Greek version of the New Testament into
English, but Church authorities prevented him from publishing it in England, so he published it
in Germany in 1525. By 1536 he finished translating the Old Testament, but before it could be
printed and distributed, he was burned at the stake in Belgium as a religious heretic, by the order
of King Henry VIII of England. A year later, King Henry broke away from the Catholic Church,
forming the Church of England, and in 1537, authorized the Tyndale Bible to be distributed as
the official Bible of the Church. His translation became the basis of the King James Version.