When it comes to religious history, a series of crimes by the Catholic Church makes for an uncomfortable read. Despite the doctrinal exaltation of virtue and goodness, church leadership has, over its long history, spearheaded completely unforgivable Catholic behavior.
You may remember these injustices - the Inquisition, the trials of Joan of Arc and Galileo. But not all cases here are from the Middle Ages. While the violence at the Vatican goes back a long way, many of the disturbing incidents are more recent. Some of the objectionable behaviors come from the Pope, some are sanctioned by the church, and most disturbing, some are just regular church practices.
The dark history of the church is scandal after scandal, filled with every kind of vice and taboo you can imagine. When the Church was at the height of its power (when it was the most powerful organization in the Western world), it began to go to its head. Add to that the seemingly stubborn refusal of church leaders to adapt to changing ethics, and you have plenty of unforgivable moments.
Pope Pius XII, denies eyewitness reports of mass executions during the Holocaust
Pope Pius XII, was widely criticized for refusing to publicly condemn the Nazi Party — despite conflicting reports that the Pope sought to "prevent German retaliation and to ensure the continued success of the Catholic Church in assisting victims of persecution." However, in In early 2020, documents previously kept in the Vatican archives about the Pope's wartime activities were made public, showing that Pius was informed of the mass executions of Jews in the autumn of 1942. According to historians who have studied the documents, one adviser thought the reports were overblown, prompting the Pope to tell the U.S. that "the Vatican cannot prove these crimes."
The new evidence was detailed in the German weekly Die Ziet. The evidence reiterates that, in September 1942, Pyramid's aide, the future Pope Paul VI, received a report of witnessing the persecution of Jews in Warsaw. In August 1942, Ukrainian Archbishop Andrzej Szeptycki also informed the Vatican about the ongoing persecution in the Lviv ghetto, according to the Haraz newspaper.
Systematic cover-up of tens of thousands of sexual misconduct cases
Remember a case of systematic cover-up of abuse, harassment and rape by a priest. There are conservative estimates of 17,200 victims in the United States alone, and such abuses occur all over the world. When complaints are received, priests and other criminals are transferred, not punished. Their actions may never be fully understood due to decades of cover-up.
But the church no longer denies this. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee acknowledged the seriousness of the problem and agreed to pay $21 million in settlements to 300 victims. But this is very rare. Fortunately, Pope Francis has established a tribunal to try bishops who helped cover up the truth. Fifteen years after the Boston Globe reported the incident, child molestations by priests are still happening.
In August 2018, a grand jury reported that internal documents from six Pennsylvania parishes stated that more than 300 "predatory priests" had been "credibly charged" (appearing to be subjective charges based on each parish's discretion) , hurt more than 1,000 child victims. The alleged violations date back to 1947. Due to the statute of limitations, only two pastors have been charged with abusing minors.
In February 2019, however, Pope Francis publicly acknowledged the existence of systemic abuse and vowed to address it. "I think it's going on because it doesn't stop once you realize it. It's going on, and we've been working on it for a while," he said.
The International Union of Superiors General has exploited the rise of the #MeToo movement to condemn "a culture of silence and secrecy". Backed by Pope Francis across the board and opposed by women internationally, the Catholic Church claims it is "working hard" to overcome years of sexual abuse by those in power.
Terrorized Jews and Muslims for 300 years
In 1095, when Pope Urban II called for war with the Muslims, the Christian armies of Western Europe took the blame. The pope promised freedom if the serfs left, and mobilized the masses. During the First Crusade, a peasant army led by Peter the Hermit was massacred by the Turks. When an army of knights pursued them and took Jerusalem, they are said to have slaughtered Muslims until the streets were covered in blood.
This is just the beginning. Wave after wave of crusades continued until 1396, marking three centuries of war and untold human suffering. Catholicism is by no means the only religion involved in this mass violence, but Pope Urban II got his act together. Here's a great summary of the disaster:
Taking off the heads of enemies and piercing them with spears seemed to be the favorite pastime of the Crusaders. The chronicle records the story of a crusading bishop who mentioned the piercing of the heads of slain Muslims as a joyous sight to the people of God. When a Muslim city was captured by Christian crusaders, it was standard operating procedure that all residents, regardless of age, were to be put to death immediately. It's no exaggeration to say that when Christian riots became a church-sanctioned terror, the streets began to be stained with blood. Jews who took refuge in synagogues would be burned alive, similar to how they were treated in Europe.
These cruel things are almost all done by Pope Boniface VIII
It's amazing to think that such a person could also be recognized by the Catholic Church, let alone chosen to lead the organization.
Boniface VIII (1230-1303) committed many terrible crimes that made him look like a brutal Roman emperor. Under his command, Palestrina was completely destroyed, resulting in the peaceful surrender of the city. Palestrina was completely razed to the ground, and Boniface also ordered that the land be plowed through to prove it had been reduced to dirt and rubble.
You should know that pastors swear by celibacy. But Boniface VIII did not take his words seriously. He once had a threesome with a married woman and her daughter, but is better known for saying that having sex with young girls is as natural as rubbing one hand against the other.
To celebrate his many great achievements, Boniface VIII liked to build statues of himself. So add arrogance to his list of crimes.
Joan of Arc burned for dressing like a man
You may know Joan of Arc as a saint, but the church didn't always hold her in such high esteem. In fact, at one time, she was pretty much the Catholic Church's public enemy No. 1.
In 1429, 17-year-old Joan of Arc, believing God had spoken to her, instigated an uprising to get the English out of France, but some high-powered Catholics who sympathized with the English weren't pleased. French king Charles VII wisely accepted Joan's help in his fight against the English, and together, they won some major battles.
When Joan was captured, Charles VII, unsure of whether he trusted her as an emissary of God, handed her over to the church, which did what Catholics do best - put her on trial for heresy with no evidence. To make things one step more ridiculous, Joan was denied counsel, which was against church rules. Despite this, she is famed for remaining cool, calm, and dripping with integrity throughout the trial.
Because there was no evidence of heresy, Joan was found guilty of one of the 70+ other charges brought against her - wearing men's clothes - for which she was burned at the stake in 1431 in front of a crowd of thousands. The church was determined to get her, and it did.
In 1456, Charles VII ordered an investigation into Joan's trial. The result? She was declared innocent and made a martyr. The church followed suit and, in 1920, canonized her. Talk about a change of heart. Maybe since all male church officials wear dress-like robes, they decided it was okay for Joan to dress like a man.
Burning William Tyndale for making a dialect bible for the masses
You might think the church would make mass distribution of the core text a priority. But it turned out that, in the 16th century, it was the last thing powerful Catholics wanted to see.
Scholar William Tyndale wanted the book so badly that he went into hiding and translated the Bible into English so ordinary people could read it for themselves. The Church was not happy about it, and when the replicas were smuggled across Europe, Catholic authorities demanded that they be burned.
What about Tyndale? He was arrested, tried for heresy for his bold translation of the Bible, and burned at the stake. When church authorities decided to print the Bible in English, they borrowed heavily from Tyndale's translation and never apologized.
Countless women were killed because of the paranoia of Pope Innocent VII
Pope Innocent VIII published a book in 1487 after declaring that witches were real. He wanted to be able to investigate statistics, so clerics Johann Sprenger and Heinrich Krömer literally wrote books about witches, Satanists, and hunting. The book became so popular that for 200 years it was second only to the Bible in sales.
So what's the problem with this book? First, the book is deeply sexist, focusing almost exclusively on women and promoting their burning at the stake, a common punishment for infidels. So no one knows how many women it killed. And its impact is too large to quantify. The book is also chock-full of dubious information, such as the fact that witches and Satan stop cows from producing milk, they ride brooms to the woods, and they eat babies.
Paid in cash for forgiveness of sins, including sins not yet committed
If you have a little in-depth knowledge of Catholic history, chances are you know about the indulgence sale and Martin Luther's Reformation.
By the 16th century, indulgence got out of hand. Pope Leo X has expensive taste and does not hesitate to use illicit means to satisfy it. Amnesty is peddled as "pay XX to absolve you of XX sins". So money can get you into heaven. To illustrate how crazy things are, Dominican friar John Teztel has been appointed as the German amnesty commissioner, so overseeing amnesty is his only job, and he sells pardons for future crimes in Germany. So he'd be like, "Hey, give us some gold, if you kill that guy next week, you'll be fine."
If you're poor and ignorant, like most poor people in that period, you basically just believe you can only be bullied and do your best to prepare yourself.
Not satisfied with this, Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses, which effectively started the Reformation.
The demise of the Knights Templar was orchestrated to appease the bankrupt king
The "Knights Templar", a stateless military group that came together to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, became famous again with The Da Vinci Code and was the subject of gossip long ago. They were recognized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1129 and were a prominent group in the Crusades. They were also good at managing money, which would have been no problem, but King Philip IV of France owed them (and others) a large sum of money. Phillips then exploited the growing fear of the Knights Templar's power to force the Church to take action against them.
In 1307, Pope Clement V arrested members and tortured them to extort confessions, falsely claiming they were heretics. Many knights confessed to spitting on the cross, fraud and secrecy, and no one cared that these were confessions from torture, and the Archbishop later investigated the Knights Templar and burned dozens of people at the stake.
In 2007, a secret document was released that Pope Clement V had pardoned the Knights Templar before his subsequent decision to dissolve them. Historians believe the document provides important evidence that the church succumbed to pressure from King Phillips.
Digging up and burning someone's body 43 years after he died, just because he annoyed some important Catholics
John Wycliffe (1320-1384), renowned English theologian and outspoken critic of the Church, was a pioneer of the Reformation. One of his many criticisms was that the church should give up worldly possessions. As you can imagine, this is not an idea the church is happy to embrace. Wycliffe also promoted and worked on the first English translation of the Bible, hoping to give people direct access to the Word of God. This is not a good idea for churches that like monopoly of power.
Archbishop of Canterbury, William Courtenay, has taken action against Wycliffe following his retirement. Wycliffe's work was banned in some areas, but it didn't end there. It didn't even end when Wycliffe died of a stroke in 1384. In 1415 (31 years after his death), the Council of Constance declared Wycliffe a heretic. Not only did they order his books to be burned, they also ordered his body to be exhumed and burned. 43 years after Wycliffe's death, his body was incinerated and his ashes were thrown into the Swift River.
Execution of Jan Hus for coming up with some theological philosophy
The church is often quite brutal to its critics. One of the best (or worst) examples is the treatment of Jan Hus, born in 1372. Hus, a Czech pastor, believed that the human-run church was inherently flawed, while the Bible, the direct word of God, was not flawed. As a result, he openly criticized the church's practices, especially the pope's schism and indulgence in buying and selling.
So, dissatisfied with Huss, the church convened the Council of Constance and invited Huss to join them.
Instead of having a brief conversation with him, the committee directly arrested Hus and put him on trial (and then in jail) for heresy. He was held in a dungeon and sentenced to death when he refused to renounce his teachings. The church denied him his last right even before he was burned at the stake.
Pope Alexander VI, organized contest against prostitutes
Tournament of prostitutes is an example of a ridiculously corrupt pope. In 1501, Pope Alexander VI had some very elegant hobbies and, according to historian Tony Perrottet, invited 50 women to undress at the Pope's table, and then things started to get weird.
As Perot wrote, "Alexander and his family gleefully threw chestnuts on the floor, forcing the women to lie down like pigs at their feet. Then they offered the man who could commit adultery with the most women a fine Clothes and jewelry as a reward."
According to legend, Alexander VI was killed by his son Caesar. To prove how evil Alexander was, his body was ejected from St. Peter's Basilica. Because people thought he was too evil to enter the holy land.
The Roman Inquisition, during which Judaism and the Love Curse were serious crimes
Pope Innocent IV (the ironic name) explicitly referred to torture as a method of religious interrogation in his 1252 papal manifesto, the Extirpanda. The Spanish Inquisition is the most famous of these courts and is headed by the Spanish royal family and monks, who are Catholics but do not work directly for or under the direction of the Vatican.
In 1542, as part of the Counter-Reformation movement against Protestantism (seriously, wouldn't there be any better way for these people than to overreact to the Christians who angered them?), another organization of the Spanish Inquisition - The Roman Inquisition was born. Both Galileo and Copernicus were starting to be questioned by then, and while the main heresy of the church was a popular dish during the Inquisition, there were many other options on the menu, including blasphemous, Jewish, immoral, witchcraft magic, love magic, and other things that angry Catholics can cram in.
Contemporary British author John Bargrave describes how he was interrogated in Latin (rather than Italian) to prevent uneducated guards from understanding what he was saying. He was also banned from carrying "books printed in any pagan city such as Geneva, Amsterdam, Leiden, London or similar".
Certainly not as bad as the Spanish Inquisition, but associated with it, the same dogma, closed-mindedness, and power-mongers.
Imprisoned Galileo at home for years because he believed science was greater than God
The church and science have a complex relationship. In 1633, Galileo Galilei, the father of science, was tried by the church for saying that the sun was the center of the universe and that the earth revolved around the sun, not the sun revolving around the earth.
Pope Urban VIII considered Galileo's remarks to be a terrible heresy. So, 10 cardinals tried Galileo, and he was tortured, imprisoned, and even threatened with being burned at the stake. Galileo, who was 69 at the time, was in a "pathetic state of physical discomfort" and eventually renounced his faith. So instead of torture, the church treated him with leniency, and he was placed under house arrest until his death.
Cut funding for immigrants because of their ties to the LGBTQ+ community
Not all Catholic excesses come from the past, and there are some dubious things in modern times, such as the church's relationship with the LGBTQ+ community, which remains a source of frustration.
Over the years, the church has donated thousands of dollars to Compañeros, a nonprofit that helps Hispanic immigrants access health care, understand the law and meet other basic needs. It wasn't until the church found out that Compañeros was working with a gay rights group that Compañeros executive director Nicole Mosher was told their funds were at risk.
The New York Times said in 2002: "Since 2010, nine groups across the country have lost funding because of conflicts with Catholic principles."
On the one hand, it is certainly okay for the church to refuse to fund causes that contradict its beliefs. For example, abortion clinics. But cutting off funding to the poor just because of affiliation with an LGBTQ+ group seems extreme and unfair, especially given the church's teachings of helping and feeding the poor. More importantly, members of the LGBTQ+ community, who can identify as Catholics, can go to church, but can't the church help them? That's even harder to swallow, given the church's $1.6 billion stock portfolio.
