Answering the campaign of lies…
If we do not want to come across as illiterates, as record-player men without personality, without critical judgment, repeating whatever we are told, then it is better that we learn and think seriously about the famous subject of the tortures and deaths of the Inquisition.
Let us begin with this:
You already know that in every war there is what is called “war propaganda.” In what war has there not been such a thing? Well then: do not forget that Spain in the sixteenth century was the foremost world power; almost all the European nations were her enemies, and at the same time she was the principal bulwark against Protestantism.
It was the only time when national hatred and religious hatred, the two greatest hatreds that exist, were united against a single power.
Does it surprise you, then, that there should have been a proportionate “war propaganda”? Have you not heard what all the communists of the world say today about the United States?
A woman may be as honorable as can be, but if a viperous tongue anonymously launches a slander against her, especially if she is envied for her position and power, everyone will point the finger at her and make malicious comments as she passes by.
Let them accuse you of fraud. Three words are enough. But refuting it will require mountains of reasons, testimonies, and proofs. The accusation is read in a moment; but who will have the patience to read the defense, especially if there is animosity against you?
I will give you an easy and effective recipe for demagoguery: paint a gloomy prison, with instruments of torture on the walls, three priests sitting behind a table, preferably very fat (it has more effect), delighting in seeing a man tortured on the rack, or the soles of his feet burned; if it is a woman, the effect is even greater. Underneath, a caption: “The horrors of the Inquisition.” Do not worry about anything more. No one is going to check whether you are lying or not. It would take too much work and study.
Nevertheless, here are a few observations that you should not forget in this matter:
1. An institution, a person, must be judged within the mentality of his own time. Would you condemn as uncultured or barbarous a university professor of the sixteenth century because he did not know what electricity, television, and jet propulsion are?
2. Well then, keep in mind that in that period heresy was considered a conspiracy against the State. State and religion were so closely intertwined that to endanger one was to endanger the other. As much as, or more than, communism today.
Proofs? In Germany and France, the wars of religion lasted more than a century: there were hundreds of thousands of dead. The Inquisition was created by the kings of Spain to prevent the same thing from happening.
In fact, the Jews and the Moriscos tried more than once to have the Turks invade Spain.
Do not forget that at that time the death penalty was imposed very easily. In 1598, in the prison of Exeter, England, alone, 74 people were executed, many for having stolen a sheep (Hamilton).
Sir James Stephen calculates that in 300 years there were in England 264,000 people sentenced to death for various offenses: about 800 per year (more than two per day).
Do you know that many times thieves, when fleeing, shout, “Stop thief, stop thief,” to throw others off the scent? Protestants throw up their hands before the “cruelty” of the Inquisition. Well then, here are a few isolated facts taken from serious and well-known historians, almost all of them Protestants.
Luther, founder of Protestantism: in 1525 he writes to the nobles: “Kill as many peasants as you can: let whoever can strike, beat, and slaughter. Happy are you if you die in it; you die in obedience to the divine Word.” More than one hundred thousand peasants perished.
In Protestant Saxony, blasphemy carried the death penalty. Calvin had Servetus burned (a Catholic physician who discovered the circulation of the blood, and whom they eliminated for “contradicting” the Bible with that discovery), and many others as well.
In 1560 the Scottish Parliament decreed the death penalty against all Catholics.
Here are some articles of the English code for Ireland:
“The Catholic who teaches another Catholic or a Protestant shall be hanged.”
“If a Catholic acquires lands, every Protestant has the right to dispossess him.”
“Perpetual exile for every Catholic priest; those who evade it are to be half-hanged alive and then quartered.” Why go on?
The Calvinist communities of Paris, Orleans, Rouen, Lyon, and Angers, in a general synod in 1559, decreed the death penalty for heretics.
In Germany more than 100,000 witches were burned. Even seven-year-old children and dying old people. A single judge burned 800 witches in 16 years (an average of 50 people a year).
Do you not know that the United States owes its founding to Puritans who were fleeing religious persecution in England?
And what about the Spanish Inquisition?
It was not free from the ideas of its time and shared in the general cruelty. But keep the following points in mind:
1. The number of Protestants condemned to death from 1520 to 1820, when it was suppressed—that is, in 300 years—according to the German Protestant researcher who specialized in this subject, Schäfer, was 220; of these, only 12 were burned. You see: that does not even amount to one per year. What happens to the image of the inquisitor standing in front of endless rows of pyres with condemned prisoners? What happens is that it is a lie. I honestly warn you that the Inquisition also acted against Moriscos and Judaizers, and therefore the number of victims was greater.
2. The Inquisition did not admit all the torments that were usual at that time throughout Europe. They could be applied only once, in the presence of a physician who could suspend them if the accused suffered harm to his health. Look, by contrast, at what was done to Catholics in the famous Tower of London, and you will be frightened. It was the first tribunal in the world to abolish torture, one hundred years before it was itself extinguished. The North American researcher Mr. G. Lea, who wrote a work in several volumes on the Inquisition, says: “The Spanish Inquisition in general was less cruel than the secular courts in carrying out torture.”
3. No one could be imprisoned until there was such evidence that the crime was evident. At least seven sworn witnesses before a notary were required. Anonymous denunciations were not accepted.
4. If they confessed and repented before the final sentence was given, they were absolved with a punishment greater or lesser according to how long they had delayed.
5. The accused had the right to present as many witnesses as he wished.
6. The accused, if married, could be in prison with his wife; if he had servants, they could serve him.
7. If he was guilty, the tribunal issued the sentence, which had to be confirmed by the Supreme Tribunal, to which an appeal could be made, and he was handed over to the State, which was responsible for carrying out the sentence. The punishments were those most usual at the time.
And finally, keep in mind that a large part of the accusations are taken from an apostate priest, Juan Antonio Llorente, who was secretary of the Inquisition (he took the side of the French invaders in the War of Independence and had to flee to France), and who himself confesses that he burned all the official data he had used for his work. Splendid! Let someone accuse you of having forged checks, and when you ask for the incriminating evidence, let your accuser answer that he burned it… If it was so compromising for the Inquisition, why did he not publish it?
Let us gradually put an end to the horrible accusations with which the Church has been stained for the base purposes of the accusers…
