Church of Rome a house of mercy – hypocrisy without precedent

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If one believed the words of the Roman Catholic Church, then persecutions, imprisonments, torture and even executions of “heretics” took place against their nature of mercy. Ultimately, the perpetrators were the secular rulers. An unprecedented hypocrisy.

“Not us” – jugglers of mercy

When the Roman Catholic Church is confronted with its “glorious” past, especially the “Dark Ages”, the response is often that the Church is engaged in the persecution of “heretics”, that is, everything that is not subjected to the dogmas of this church, have nothing to do at all. After all, the heretics were all persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and executed by the state.

The burning of the Englishman William Tyndale in 1536, who dared to translate the Bible into English, was not ordered by the church, but by King Henry VIII. A frequently thrown argument. Technically correct. But if you look at the background, then the English king’s free will was significantly restricted.

Thomas Aquinas – The “Chief Saint”

The Roman Catholic Church itself practices the innocence of a lamb, feigning mercy and grace. But one of the “holiest of saints” of this church, Thomas Aquinas (approx. 1225 to 1274), formulated clearly in his work “Summa Theologiæ” how to deal with heretics:

“On the part of the Church, however, there is mercy which looks to the conversion of the wanderer, wherefore she condemns not at once, but “after the first and second admonition,” as the Apostle directs: after that, if he is yet stubborn, the Church no longer hoping for his conversion, looks to the salvation of others, by excommunicating him and separating him from the Church, and furthermore delivers him to the secular tribunal to be exterminated thereby from the world by death.“

Innocent III called for destruction

One of the most influential popes was Innocent III (1198-1216). Initiator of the persecution of entire tribes due to “heresy”. In 1209, Innocent III began the crusade against the Albigensians (Cathars) with the words, “Slay them all. God knows his own.” The Pope told the called “soldiers of Christ” that “you should strive to destroy heretical unbelief in every way and by every means that God will reveal to you.”

There is no way for this “merciful church” to escape from their bloodguilt, because this call by the Pope is historically secured based on the bull of March 10, 1208.

Just a few years earlier, in 1199, Innocent III, based on his edict ‘Vergentis in senium’, defined the “crime of heresy” as the crime of lese majeste. Every secular ruler under the wing of Rome had to automatically feel addressed and act accordingly if the church condemned someone as a heretic.

Automated global jurisdiction

The Roman Catholic Church has taken appropriate measures to ensure that the delinquents are automatically “sorted out” by the secular judiciary.

Innocent III.

Pope Innocent III convened the Fourth Lateran Council (1213 to 1215) based on the bull “Vineam Domini”. The following provision was defined there:
“If however a temporal lord, required and instructed by the church, neglects to cleanse his territory of this heretical filth, he shall be bound with the bond of excommunication by the metropolitan and other bishops of the province.“

In other words: If a secular ruler does not act as the church imagines, that prince will be excommunicated, with all ecclesiastical, social and financial consequences, including various uncertainties surrounding his life.

Innocent IV.

Pope Innocent IV (1243 to 1254) went one step further. In “Ad Extirpanda” (Law 1), the Pontiff ordered the following:
“Heretics are to be coerced – as are thieves and bandits – into confessing their errors and accusing others, although one must stop short of danger to life or limb.“

That sounded “merciful” at first. But that wasn’t all:
“If any head of state or ruler refuses to obey, each and all, these statutes, or neglects them, besides the stigma of forswearing, and the disaster of eternal infamy, he shall undergo the penalty of seeing his country lose its borders, which penalty shall be imposed on him irrecoverably; the country will be converted to common use, because, specifically, a man forswornd and infamous, and, in effect, a protector of heretics, his faith compromised, has usurped the dignity and honor of governmental power.“

Boniface VIII.

Pope Boniface VIII (1294 to 1303) added further “options” based on “Unam Sanctam”:
“Both, therefore, are in the power of the Church, that is to say, the spiritual and the material sword, but the former is to be adminsitered for the Church but the latter by the Churcb; the former in the hands of the priest; the latter by the hands of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest. However, on sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power.“

Unparalleled hypocrisy

This unprecedented hypocrisy on the part of the Roman Church is particularly serious. While the Pharisees at the time of Jesus Christ, in their demonstrated “innocence”, accused the Romans of nailing Jesus Christ to the cross, the Pharisees were subordinate to the Romans. Rome was the predominant power, even if there were certainly influential Pharisee connections.

The Church of Rome, however, was clearly itself the dominant power. The Pope installed and removed kings and emperors as he pleased. This ecclesiastical institution arranged it in such a way that it blackmailed the sovereigns under its authority to persecute, torture and murder the heretics defined by the church, while it washed its own hands innocence. Can there be more hypocrisy?

The Bible describes the papacy, consisting of church (Vatican) and state power (Holy See), as “man of sin, son of perdition, whore of Babylon, abomination of the earth and Antichrist” (Info).

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)