Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - “In the modern epoch in Europe there were roughly about 100,000 trials in civil and ecclesiastical courts. Of these 50,000 were trials by civil courts which led to condemnations to the stake. Condemnations to the stake issued by ecclesiastical courts were in all: 4 in Portugal, 59 in Spain, 36 in Italy, all together less than 100 cases”, Prof. Agostino Borromeo said speaking to journalists after a Press Conference this morning June 15 at the Holy See Press Room to present a publication containing the acts of an ‘International Symposium on the Inquisition’ held in Rome in 1998 promoted by the Theology-History Commission of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.
“The purpose of the Symposium, held 29 to 31 October 1998”, Cardinal Georges Cottier, Pro-Theologian of the Papal Household told journalists “was of a scientific character. Because a request for forgiveness which the Church wished to make for past errors could only concern authentic facts, objectively recognised. We could ask forgiveness for certain images diffused by public opinion which are more myth than fact. In fact not by chance the Commission was called Historical-Theological. The contribution of historians was in fact indispensable”.
“The Church” Card. Cottier continued “wished to ask for forgiveness not in a disordered manner but with effective knowledge of that happened because from the truth there is nothing to fear. Moreover the Church wished to ask pardon from God and from mankind for the sins of some of her sons who, influenced by the mentality of the times, may have used violence in the name of truth, and while asking for forgiveness she recognises that the sins of her sons are her own”.
“It was John Paul II who called for clarity with regard to the Inquisition” said Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, President of the Central Committee for the Jubilee of the Year 2000, recalling the Tertio millennio adveniente which evoked the inquisition as “a painful chapter to which the sons and daughters of the Church must return with a spirit of repentance (n.35)”.
It was again Pope John Paul II who recalled in a letter addressed to Cardinal Etchegaray on the occasion of the publication of the Acts that “it is right for the Church to take the blame with more lively awareness for the sins of her children when recalling all those circumstances through history in which they wandered far from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel offering the world the spectacle of manners of thinking and acting which were authentic forms of anti-witness and scandal. For public opinion the Inquisition represents almost the symbol of this anti-witness and scandal. In this measure is this image true to reality? Before asking forgiveness it is necessary to have exact knowledge of the facts and to be able to put failings with regard to the demands of the Gospel in the right place”.
Also present at the Press Conference Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, Archivist and Librarian of Holy Roman Church, who presented the volume: “number 417 in the series “Studies and Texts” Vatican Library, this is a prestigious series which three years ago marked its one hundredth year of existence. As all the publications contained in the series, this volume passed an examination by the Editorial Commission and it was accepted as one of the series for its scientific value but also for its present day importance, in some manner revitalised on the eve of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. (P.L.R.) (Agenzia Fides 11/6/2004 - Righe 37; Parole 527)
