By Delia Gallagher
ROME, JUNE 24, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Those who claim the Vatican tries to hide behind a veil of secrecy should read its newly published 783-page book on the Inquisition.
The «Minutes of the International Symposium ‘The Inquisition'» is a remarkably candid exposé of the tortures and injustices committed by various national Inquisitions (in England, Portugal, Spain, France, Goa) and the Roman one, under the guidance of several Popes and the auspices of the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas. The symposium was held in October 1998.
It is a tribute to the visionary leadership of Pope John Paul II that the Church opened up its archives on this period to Catholic and non-Catholic historians and published their findings. The findings do not shy away from strong criticism of Catholic leadership of the time.
Consider these excerpts:
«In 1559, on express desire of Paul IV, in a systematic and detailed way, all Christians who went to confess their sins were first interrogated about their criminal offences, or their knowledge of crimes of heresy or reading of prohibited books; and if something emerged, they were sent to the tribunal of the inquisition to make a formal denouncement … if the violence of torture and the gallows broke the body, the moral violence exercised by the subordination of confession to the inquisition broke consciences … the profound effects of this choice still need to be evaluated in full» (p. 761).
«The largest spurt in executions by the Roman Inquisition occurred shortly after the Council of Trent, during the pontificate of an ex-Inquisitor General. Because of the Roman Inquisition, Pius V has more legal murders staining his record than any other 16th century pope, including Paul IV and Sixtus V. Nevertheless, he has become the only one of this group to be canonized, while the other two remain bywords for bigoted ferocity» (p. 545).
«That the wisest and saintliest among the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, through their personal authority, gave credence to this ‘communal doctrine’ [of torture and death] to the point of seeming to imbue it with a quasi-Magisterial authority, necessitates that the authentic Magisterium of the Church make honorable amends» (p. 767).
Not a few at the Vatican were concerned that the publication of such details would give ammunition to those who wished to attack the Church.
Yet the Pope insisted on this research as part of his Jubilee Year «purification of memory,» which required a scholarly investigation into the truth of what happened during the Inquisition — not simply to set the record straight, but to ask for forgiveness for the injustices that occurred.
Now it is a tricky theological question how, and indeed why, one can ask for forgiveness on behalf of Popes who have been canonized, and doctors and saints of the Church whose teachings encouraged injustice.
I spoke to the theologian of the Papal Household, Cardinal Georges Cottier, who headed the commission that published the work on the Inquisition.
«The Church does not ask forgiveness for the Inquisition as a whole,» Cardinal Cottier clarified. «She asks forgiveness for the fact of the violence employed during the Inquisition.»
«The individual guilt of saints or Popes involved in the Inquisition is not judged by the Church; it is a secret of God,» he said.
In any moral act, the cardinal explained, there are different levels of responsibility. So, for example, the use of drugs may mitigate the responsibility of an individual who sins under their effect.
Likewise, given the mentality of the age of the Inquisition, when the use of torture and burning was widely accepted, the responsibility of those involved must be considered in this light.
