Catholic apologists frequently cite Luther's exasperated
vituperative condemnation and counsel against a recalcitrant
antagonistic Judaism of his day, but such Catholics fail to mention
or detail the treatment Jews often suffered under popes and his subjects.
Note that, as with the persecution of Christians, treatment of the
Jews has varied, including by Rome and her secular rulers, from peace
to persecution. Meanwhile Luther's attitude itself changed toward a very
negative one, though such can be said to be more that of
anti-judaism then anti-semitism. Concerning which attitude see
Luther
And The Jews.
I also do not deal with the veracity of the varied charges made
against the Jews, but which I am confident range from outright
fallacious ones to those which were true at least to some degree.
Instead, in response to Catholics who focus on the latter-day
negativity of Luther toward the Jews, the following is overall a
partial testimony to the negative attitude and actions of Rome and
her subjects toward the Jews.
Any
emphasis throughout is mine.
This feeling showed itself particularly on the occasion of the
Third Crusade (1189-1192). The Jews were massacred on the day
of the coronation of Richard I (3 Sept, 1189) and soon afterwards in
several English towns (1190). About the same time,
crusaders
murdered them at different places from the district of the Rhine
to Vienna...
The year
1204, in which closed the
Fourth Crusade,
marked the beginning of still heavier misfortunes for the Jews. That
very year witnessed the death of Maimonides, the greatest Jewish
authority of the twelfth century, and
the first of the many
efforts of Innocent III to prevent Christian princes from showing
favour to their Jewish subjects. Soon afterwards,
the Jews of
southern France suffered grievously during the war against the
Albigenses which ended only in 1228. In 1210, those of England
were ill-treated by King John Lackland and their wealth confiscated
to the Exchequer. Next,
the Jews of Toledo were put to death by
crusaders (1212).
The conciliar legislation of the time was
generally unfavourable to the Jews, and it culminated in the
anti-Jewish measures of the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215),
among which may be mentioned
the exclusion of Jews from all public
offices, and the decree that they should wear a Jew badge. (Catholic
Encyclopedia > History of the Jews)
►Canons
of the 4th Lateran Council (convoked
by Pope Innocent III with the papal bull of April 19, 1213)
CANON
67
Text.
The more the Christians are restrained from the practice of
usury, the more are they oppressed in this matter by the treachery
of the Jews, so that in a short time they exhaust the
resources of the Christians. Wishing, therefore, in this matter to
protect the Christians against cruel oppression by the Jews, we
ordain in this decree that if in the future under any pretext Jews
extort from Christians oppressive and immoderate interest, the
partnership of the Christians shall be denied them till they have
made suitable satisfaction for their excesses...
Lastly,
we decree that the Jews be compelled by the same punishment
(avoidance of commercial intercourse) to make satisfaction for the
tithes and offerings due to the churches, which the Christians
were accustomed to supply from their houses and other possessions
before these properties, under whatever title, fell into the
hands of the Jews, that thus the churches may be safeguarded
against loss.
CANON
68
Summary.
Jews and Saracens [a generic term for Muslims] of both
sexes in every Christian province must be distinguished from the
Christian by a difference of dress. On Passion Sunday and
the last three days of Holy Week they may not appear in
public.
Text:
In some provinces a
difference in dress distinguishes the Jews or Saracens from the
Christians, but in
certain others such a confusion has grown up that they
cannot be distinguished by any difference.
Thus it happens at times that through error Christians have
relations with the women of Jews or Saracens, and Jews and
Saracens with Christian women. Therefore, that they may not, under
pretext of error of this sort, excuse themselves in the future for
the excesses of such prohibited intercourse, we decree that such
Jews and Saracens of both sexes in every Christian province and at
all times shall be marked off in the eyes of the public from other
peoples through the character of their dress. Particularly, since
it may be read in the writings of Moses [Numbers
15:37-41], that this very law has been enjoined upon them.
Moreover,
during the last three days before Easter and especially on Good
Friday, they shall not go forth in public at all, for the
reason that some of them on these very days, as we hear, do not
blush to go forth better dressed and are not afraid to mock the
Christians who maintain the memory of the most holy Passion by
wearing signs of mourning.
This,
however, we forbid most severely, that any one should presume at
all to break forth in insult to the Redeemer. And since we ought
not to ignore any insult to Him who blotted out our disgraceful
deeds, we command that such impudent fellows be checked by the
secular princes by imposing them proper punishment so that they
shall not at all presume to blaspheme Him who was crucified for
us.
[Note
by Schroeder: In 581 the Synod of Macon enacted in canon 14 that
from Thursday in Holy Week until Easter Sunday, .Jews may not in
accordance with a decision of King Childebert appear in the
streets and in public places. Mansi, IX, 934; Hefele-Leclercq,
111, 204. In 1227 the Synod of Narbonne in canon 3 ruled: "That
Jews may be distinguished from others, we decree and emphatically
command that in the center of the breast (of their garments) they
shall wear an oval badge, the measure of one finger in width and
one half a palm in height. We forbid them moreover, to work
publicly on Sundays and on festivals. And lest they scandalize
Christians or be scandalized by Christians, we wish and ordain
that during Holy Week they shall not leave their houses at all
except in case of urgent necessity, and the prelates shall during
that week especially have them guarded from vexation by the
Christians." Mansi, XXIII, 22; Hefele-Leclercq V 1453. Many
decrees similar to these in content were issued by synods before
and after this Lateran Council. Hefele-Leclercq, V and VI;
Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the XIlIth Century,
Philadelphia, 1933.]
CANON
70
Summary.
Jews who have received baptism are to be restrained by the
prelates from returning to their former rite.
Text.
Some (Jews), we understand, who voluntarily approached the waters
of holy baptism, do not entirely cast off the old man that they
may more perfectly put on the new one, because, retaining remnants
of the former rite, they obscure by such a mixture the beauty of
the Christian religion. But since it is written: "Accursed is
the man that goeth on the two ways" (Ecclus.
2:14), and "a garment that is woven together of woolen
and linen" (Deut. 22: ii) ought not to be put on, we decree
that such persons be in every way restrained b the prelates from
the observance of the former rite, that, having given themselves
of their own free will to the Christian religion, salutary
coercive action may preserve them in its observance,
since not to know the way of the Lord is a lesser evil than to
retrace one's steps after it is known.
(From
H. J. Schroeder, Disciplinary Decrees of the General Councils:
Text, Translation and Commentary, (St. Louis: B. Herder, 1937).
pp. 236-296) —
http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/344latj.html
The early Roman pontiffs of the sixteenth century had Jewish
physicians and were favorable to the Jews and the Maranos of their
states. Time soon came, however, when the Sephardic Jews of Italy
fared differently.
As early as
1532, the accusation of child murder
nearly
entailed the extermination of the Jews of Rome. In
1555, Paul
IV revived the ancient canons against the Jews which
forbade
them the practice of medicine, the p
ursuit of high commerce,
and the
ownership of real estate. He also
consigned them to
a Ghetto, and compelled them to
wear a Jew badge.
In
1569,
Pius IV expelled all the Jews from
the Pontifical States, except Rome and Ancona. Sixtus V (1585-1590)
recalled them; but, soon after him,
Clement VIII (1592-1605)
banished them again partially, at the very moment when the
Maranos of Italy lost their last place of refuge in Ferrara. Similar
misfortunes befell the Jewish race in other states of Italy as the
Spanish domination extended there:
Naples banished the Jews in 1541; Genoa, in 1550; Milan, in
1597. Hence-forward, most Sephardic fugitives simply passed
through Italy when on their way to the Turkish Empire."
(Catholic Encyclopedia > History of the Jews)
►
Popes Against the Jews
“the
legislation enacted in the 1930s by the Nazis in their Nuremberg
Laws and by the Italian Fascists with their racial laws—which
stripped the Jews of their rights as citizens—was modeled on
measures that the [Roman Catholic] Church itself had enforced for
as long as it was in a position to do so” (9).
In
1466, in festivities sponsored by Pope Paul II, Jews were made to
race naked through the streets of the city. A particularly
evocative later account describes them: “Races were run on
each of the eight days of the Carnival by horses, asses and
buffaloes, old men, lads, children, and Jews. Before they were to
run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more
difficult for them, and at the same time, more amusing for the
spectators. They ran from the Arch of Domitian to the Church of
St. Mark at the end of the Corso at full tilt, amid Rome’s
taunting shrieks of encouragement and peals of laughter, while the
Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed
heartily. Two centuries later, these practices, now deemed
indecorous and unbefitting the dignity of the Holy City, were
stopped by Clement IX. In their place the Pope assessed a heavy
tax on the Jews to help pay the costs of the city’s Carnival
celebrations.
But
various other Carnival rites continued. For many years the
rabbis of the ghetto were forced to wear clownish outfits and
march through the streets to the jeers of the crow, pelted by a
variety of missiles. Such rites were not peculiar to Rome. In
Pisa in the eighteenth century, for example, it was customary each
year, as part of Carnival, for students to chase after the fattest
Jew in the city, capture him, weigh him, and then make him give
them his weight in sugar-coated almonds.
In
1779, Pius VI resurrected some of the Carnival rites that had been
neglected in recent years. Most prominent among them was the
feudal rite of homage, in which ghetto officials, made to wear
special clothes, stood before an unruly mob in a crowded piazza,
making an offering to Rome’s governors.
It
was this practice that occasioned the formal plea from the ghetto
to Pope Gregory XVI in 1836. The Jews argued that such rites
should be abandoned, and cited previous popes who had ordered them
halted. They asked that, in his mercy, the Pope now do the same.
On November 5, the Pope met with his secretary of state to
discuss the plea. A note on the secretary of state’s copy of
the petition, along with his signature, records the Pope’s
decision: “It is not opportune to make any innovation.”
The annual rites continued.
“When
all is said and done, the [Roman Catholic] Church’s claim of
lack of responsibility for the kind of anti-Semitism that made the
Holocaust possible comes down to this: The
Roman Catholic Church never called for, or sanctioned, the mass
murder of the Jews. Yes, the Jews should be stripped of their
rights as equal citizens. Yes, they should be kept from contact
with the rest of society. But Christian Charity and Christian
theology forbade good Christians to round them up and murder
them.” See
more
in part 5 of a series
(1
, 2
, 3
, 4
, 5,
6
.
►
Pope Leo XII
As
cardinal vicar of Rome, Della Genga [the new Pope Leo XII] had
been outraged to discover that not all of the Holy City’s
Jews had returned to their ghetto following the restoration of the
papal regime. One of his major projects as cardinal vicar had been
to oversee a modest enlargement of the ghetto, to undermine
the Jews’ complaint that it was impossible for them all
to fit in the densely packed space within the old ghetto walls.
Now, as pope, he redoubled these efforts. In 1823, in one of his
first pontifical acts [which the Church can officially dismiss as
if it were nothing], Leo XII ordered the Jews back into the
ghetto, “to overcome the evil consequences of the freedom
that [they] have enjoyed…
In
the first year of his papacy, he had the Holy Office investigate
the extent to which the old restrictions on the Jews in the Papal
States were still being enforced. The goal as an internal
Inquisition report expressed it, was “to contain the
wickedness of the obstinate Jews so that the danger of perversion
of the Catholic faithful” could be avoided. The report
expressed dismay that some Jews lived outside the ghettoes, some
traveled from place to place without the special permits they were
required to get from the local office of the bishop or the
inquisitor, and some had opened stores and businesses beyond the
ghetto’s walls...
The
new Pope’s efforts to enforce these restrictions on the Jews
relied on the bureaucracy of control provided by the Inquisition
and by various other agencies of the Papal States. —
http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2011/02/popes-against-jews-part-5-you-will.html
Note
that according to the Catechism:
2032
"To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to
announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the
social order, and to make judgments on any human affairs to the
extent that they are required by the fundamental rights of the
human person or the salvation of souls." —
http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2011/02/popes-against-jews-part-3-positing-big.html
What
follows falls under judgments on human affairs which is justified
as being necessary for the salvation of souls.
►Cum
nimis absurdum
Cum
nimis absurdum was a papal bull issued by Pope Paul IV dated 14
July 1555 [after Luther]. It takes its name from its first
words:[1] "Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient
that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God
to eternal slavery..."
The
bull revoked all the rights of the Jewish community and placed
religious and economic restrictions on Jews in the Papal States,
renewed anti-Jewish legislation and subjected Jews to various
degradations and restrictions on their personal freedom.
The
bull established the Roman Ghetto and required the Jews of Rome,
which had existed as a community since before Christian times and
numbered about 2,000 at the time, to live in it. The Ghetto was a
walled quarter with three gates that were locked at night. Jews
were also restricted to one synagogue per city. Under the bull,
Jewish males were required to wear a pointed yellow hat, and
Jewish females a yellow kerchief (see yellow badge). Jews were
required to attend compulsory Catholic sermons on the Jewish
shabbat.
The bull also
subjected Jews to various other restrictions such as a
prohibition on property ownership and practising medicine among
Christians. Jews were allowed to practice only unskilled jobs,
as rag men, secondhand dealers [2] or fish mongers. They could
also be pawnbrokers.
Paul
IV's successor, Pope Pius IV, enforced the creation of other
ghettos in most Italian towns, and his successor, Pope Pius V,
recommended them to other bordering states. The Papal States
ceased to exist on 20 September 1870 when they were incorporated
in the Kingdom of Italy, but the requirement that Jews live in
the ghetto was only formally abolished by the Italian state in
1882. Though the Roman and other ghettos have now been
abolished, the bull has never been revoked. —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cum_nimis_absurdum
►Cum
nimis absurdum text
Laws
and ordinances to be followed by Jews living in the Holy See
[decreed by the] Bishop [of Rome, the Pope] Paul, servant of the
servants of God, for future recollection.
Since
it is completely senseless and inappropriate to be in a situation
where Christian piety allows the Jews (whose guilt—all of
their own doing—has condemned them to eternal slavery)
access to our society and even to live among us; indeed, they
are without gratitude to Christians, as, instead of thanks for
gracious treatment, they return invective, and among
themselves, instead of the slavery, which they deserve, they
manage to claim superiority: we, who recently learned that
these very Jews have insolently invaded Rome from a number of the
Papal States, territories and domains, to the extent that not
only have they mingled with Christians (even when close to their
churches) and wearing no identifying garments, but to dwell in
homes, indeed, even in the more noble [dwellings] of the
states, territories and domains in which they lingered, conducting
business from their houses and in the streets and dealing in real
estate; they even have nurses and housemaids and other Christians
as hired servants. And they would dare to perpetrate a wide
variety of other dishonorable things, contemptuous of the [very]
name Christian...
1.
Desiring firstly, as much as we can with [the help of] God, to
beneficially provide, by this [our decree] that will forever be in
force, we ordain that for the rest of time, in the City as well as
in other states, territories and domains of the Church of Rome
itself, all Jews are to live in only one [quarter] to which there
is only one entrance and from which there is but one exit,
2.
Furthermore, in each and every state, territory and domain in
which they are living, they will have only one synagogue,
in its customary location, and they will construct no other new
ones, nor can they own buildings. Furthermore, all
of their synagogues, besides the one allowed, are to be destroyed
and demolished. And the properties, which they currently
own, they must sell to Christians within a period of time to
be determined by the magistrates themselves...
§
3. Moreover, concerning the matter that Jews should be
recognizable everywhere: [to this end] men must wear a hat,
women, indeed, some other evident sign, yellow in color, that
must not be concealed or covered by any means, and must be
tightly affixed [sewn]; and furthermore, they can not be
absolved or excused from the obligation to wear the hat or other
emblem of this type to any extent whatever and under any
pretext whatsoever of their rank or prominence or of their ability
to tolerate [this] adversity...
7.
And they may not presume in any way to play, eat or fraternize
with Christians...
9.
Moreover, these Jews are to be limited to the trade of
rag-picking, or "cencinariae" (as it is said in the
vernacular), and they cannot trade in grain, barley or any
other commodity essential to human welfare.
10.
And those among them who are physicians, even if summoned and
inquired after, cannot attend or take part in the care of
Christians.
11.And
they are not to be addressed as superiors [even] by poor
Christians...
14.
And, should
they, in any manner whatsoever, be deficient in the foregoing, it
would be treated as a crime:..just
as if they were rebels and criminals by the jurisdiction in which
the offense takes place. —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cum_nimis_absurdum
►Inquisition
In
some parts of Spain towards the end of the 14th century, there was
a wave of violent anti-Judaism, encouraged by the preaching
of Ferrand Martinez, Archdeacon of Ecija. In the pogroms of June
1391 in Seville, hundreds of Jews were killed, and the synagogue
was completely destroyed. The number of people killed was also
high in other cities, such as Córdoba, Valencia and
Barcelona.[32
One
of the consequences of these pogroms was the mass conversion of
thousands of surviving Jews. Forced baptism was contrary to
the law of the Catholic Church, and theoretically anybody who had
been forcibly baptized could legally return to Judaism. However,
this was very narrowly interpreted. Legal definitions of the time
theoretically acknowledged that a forced baptism was not a valid
sacrament, but confined this to cases where it was literally
administered by physical force. A person who had consented to
baptism under threat of death or serious injury was still regarded
as a voluntary convert, and accordingly forbidden to revert to
Judaism.[33] After the public violence, many of the converted
"felt it safer to remain in their new religion."[34]
Thus, after 1391, a new social group appeared and were referred to
as conversos or New Christians.
King
Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile established
the Spanish Inquisition in 1478. In contrast to the previous
inquisitions, it operated completely under royal Christian
authority, though staffed by clergy and orders, and
independently of the Holy See [but the prior Fourth Lateran
Council did require Christians leaders to exterminate all the
heretics its prelates convicted under his rule, or else
Catholics were not bound to obey him]. It operated in Spain and in
all Spanish colonies and territories, which included the Canary
Islands, the Spanish Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples, and all
Spanish possessions in North, Central, and South America. It
primarily targeted forced converts from Islam (Moriscos, Conversos
and secret Moors) and from Judaism (Conversos, Crypto-Jews and
Marranos) — both groups still resided in Spain after the end
of the Islamic control of Spain — who came under
suspicion of either continuing to adhere to their old religion or
of having fallen back into it.
In
1492 all Jews who had not converted were expelled from Spain, and
those who remained became subject to the Inquisition.—
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition
►The
Inquisition
While
many people associate the Inquisition with Spain and Portugal, it
was actually instituted by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) in Rome.
A later pope, Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition, in
1233, to combat the heresy of the Abilgenses, a religious sect in
France.
In
the beginning, the Inquisition dealt only with Christian heretics
and did not interfere with the affairs of Jews. However, disputes
about Maimonides’ books (which addressed the synthesis of
Judaism and other cultures) provided a pretext for harassing Jews
and, in 1242, the Inquisition condemned the Talmud and burned
thousands of volumes. In 1288, the first mass burning of Jews
on the stake took place in France.
In
1481 the Inquisition started in Spain and ultimately surpassed the
medieval Inquisition, in both scope and intensity. Conversos
(Secret Jews) and New Christians were targeted because of their
close relations to the Jewish community, many of whom were Jews in
all but their name. Fear of Jewish influence led Queen Isabella
and King Ferdinand to write a petition to the Pope asking
permission to start an Inquisition in Spain. In 1483 Tomas de
Torquemada became the inquisitor-general for most of Spain, he set
tribunals in many cities. Also heading the Inquisition in Spain
were two Dominican monks, Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San
Martin.
First,
they arrested Conversos and notable figures in Seville; in Seville
more than 700 Conversos were burned at the stake and 5,000
repented. Tribunals were also opened in Aragon, Catalonia and
Valencia. An Inquisition Tribunal was set up in Ciudad Real, where
100 Conversos were condemned, and it was moved to Toledo in 1485.
Between 1486-1492, 25 auto de fes were held in Toledo, 467
people were burned at the stake and others were imprisoned.
The Inquisition finally made its way to Barcelona, where it was
resisted at first because of the important place of Spanish
Conversos in the economy and society.
More
than 13,000 Conversos were put on trial during the first 12
years of the Spanish Inquisition. Hoping to eliminate ties between
the Jewish community and Conversos, the Jews of Spain were
expelled in 1492...
The
next phase of the Inquisition began in Portugal in 1536: King
Manuel I had initially asked Pope Leo X to begin an inquisition in
1515, but only after Leo's death in 1521 did Pope Paul III agree
to Manuel's request. Thousands of Jews came to Portugal after
the 1492 expulsion. A Spanish style Inquisition was constituted
and tribunals were set up in Lisbon and other cities. Among
the Jews who died at the hands of the Inquisition were
well-known figures of the period such as Isaac de Castro Tartas,
Antonio Serrao de Castro and Antonio Jose da Silva. The
Inquisition never stopped in Spain and continued until the late
18th century.
By
the second half of the 18th century, the Inquisition abated, due
to the spread of enlightened ideas and lack of resources. The last
auto de fe in Portugal took place on October 27, 1765. Not until
1808, during the brief reign of Joseph Bonaparte, was the
Inquisition abolished in Spain. An estimated 31,912 heretics
were burned at the stake, 17,659 were burned in effigy and 291,450
made reconciliations in the Spanish Inquisition. In Portugal,
about 40,000 cases were tried, although only 1,800 were burned,
the rest made penance [or else].
The
Inquisition was not limited to Europe; it also spread to Spanish
and Portugese colonies in the New World and Asia. Many Jews and
Conversos fled from Portugal and Spain to the New World seeking
greater security and economic opportunities. Branches of the
Portugese Inquisition were set up in Goa and Brazil. Spanish
tribunals and auto de fes were set up in Mexico, the Philippine
Islands, Guatemala, Peru, New Granada and the Canary Islands. By
the late 18th century, most of these were dissolved. —
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Inquisition.html:
►
Goa Inquisition
The
Goa Inquisition was the office of the Portuguese Inquisition
acting in Portuguese India, and in the rest of the Portuguese
Empire in Asia. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed
from 1774–1778, and finally abolished in 1812.[1] Based on
the records that survive, H. P. Salomon and I. S. D. Sassoon state
that between the Inquisition's beginning in 1561 and its temporary
abolition in 1774, some 16,202 persons were brought to trial by
the Inquisition. Of this number, it is known that 57 were
sentenced to death and executed; another 64 were burned in effigy.
Others were subjected to lesser punishments or penance, but the
fate of many of those tried by the Inquisition is unknown.[2]
The
Inquisition was established to punish apostate New Christians—Jews
and Muslims who converted to Catholicism, as well as their
descendants—who were now suspected of practising their
ancestral religion in secret.[2] —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Inquisition
►Portuguese
Inquisition
...was
formally established in Portugal in 1536 at the request of the
King of Portugal, João III. Manuel I had asked for the
installation of the Inquisition in 1515 to fulfill the commitment
of marriage with Maria of Aragon, but it was only after his death
that Pope Paul III acquiesced. In the period after the Medieval
Inquisition, it was one of three different manifestations of the
wider Christian Inquisition along with the Spanish Inquisition and
Roman Inquisition.
The
major target of the Portuguese Inquisition were those who had
converted from Judaism to Catholicism, the Conversos, also
known as New Christians or Marranos, who were suspected of
secretly practising Judaism. Many of these were originally Spanish
Jews, who had left Spain for Portugal. The number of victims is
estimated around 40000.[1]
Spanish
Inquisition
On
November 1, 1478, Pope Sixtus IV published the Papal bull, Exigit
Sinceras Devotionis Affectus, through which he gave the
monarchs exclusive authority to name the inquisitors in their
kingdoms...In 1482 the pope was still trying to maintain control
over the Inquisition and to gain acceptance for his own attitude
towards the New Christians, which was generally more moderate than
that of the Inquisition and the local rulers.
In
1483, Jews were expelled from all of Andalusia. Though the
pope wanted to crack down on abuses, Ferdinand pressured him to
promulgate a new bull, threatening that he would otherwise
separate the Inquisition from Church authority.[21][22] Sixtus did
so on October 17, 1483, naming Tomás de Torquemada
Inquisidor General of Aragón, Valencia and Catalonia.
...
Henry
Kamen estimates that, of a population of approximately 80,000
Jews, about one half or 40,000 chose emigration.[27] —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Inquisition
►Tomás
de Torquemada
The
Pope went on to appoint a number of inquisitors for the Spanish
Kingdoms in early 1482, including Torquemada. A year later he was
named Grand Inquisitor of Spain, which he remained until his death
in 1498. In the fifteen years under his direction, the Spanish
Inquisition grew from the single tribunal at Seville to a network
of two dozen 'Holy Offices'.[12] As Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada
reorganized the Spanish Inquisition (originally based in Castile
in 1478), establishing tribunals in Sevilla, Jaén, Córdoba,
Ciudad Real and (later) Saragossa. His quest was to rid Spain of
all heresy. The Spanish chronicler Sebastián de Olmedo
called him "the hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the
savior of his country, the honor of his order".
Under
the edict of March 31, 1492, known as the Alhambra Decree,
approximately 200,000 Jews left Spain. Following the Alhambra
decree of 1492, approximately 50,000 Jews took baptism so as to
remain in Spain; however, many of these—known as
"Marranos" from Corinthians II, a contraction of
anathema—were "crypto-jews" and secretly kept some
of their Jewish traditions. —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%A1s_de_Torquemada
•
In addition is The Vatican
did not even formally recognize Israel until 1993. A bit late.
►
Papal–Israel relations
Until
1948 the Pope was motivated by the traditional Vatican opposition
to Zionism. Vatican opposition to
a Jewish homeland stemmed largely from theological doctrines
regarding Judaism.[40] In 1904,
the Zionist leader Theodor Herzl obtained an audience with Pope
Pius X in the hope of persuading the pontiff to support the
establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The pope's
response was: "Non possumus"--"We cannot."
In 1917,
Pius X's successor, Pope Benedict
XV, equally refused to support any concept for a Jewish state.
Minerbi writes that when a League of Nations mandate were being
proposed for Palestine, the Vatican
was disturbed by the prospect of a (Protestant) British mandate
over the Holy Land, but a Jewish state was anathema to it.[27][41]
On
22 June 1943, Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, the Apostolic Delegate to
Washington D.C. wrote to US President Franklin Roosevelt, asking
him to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
...
If
the greater part of Palestine is given to the Jewish people, this
would be a severe blow to the religious attachment of Catholics to
this land. To have the Jewish people in the majority would be
to interfere with the peaceful exercise of these rights in the
Holy Land already vested in Catholics.
It is true
that at one time Palestine was inhabited by the Hebrew Race, but
there is no axiom in history to substantiate the necessity of a
people returning to a country they left nineteen centuries
before.[42]
The
Vatican view of the Near East was dominated by a Cold War
perception that Arab Muslims are conservative but religious,
whereas Israeli Zionists are modernist but atheists. The
Vatican's then Foreign Minister, Domenico Tardini (without being
even a bishop, but a close collaborator of Pius XII) said to the
French ambassador in November 1957, according to an Israeli
diplomatic dispatch from Rome to Jerusalem:
"I
have always been of the opinion that there never was an overriding
reason for this state to be established. It was the fault of the
western states. Its existence is an inherent risk factor for war
in the Middle East. Now,
Israel exists, and there is certainly no way to destroy it, but
every day we pay the price of this error."[45]
by
initially siding with Palestinian claims for compensations on
political, social and financial levels, the Vatican shaped its
Middle Eastern policy since 1948 upon two pillars. One was based
on political and theological reservations against Zionism,... the
Holy See has also maintained reservations of its own. The more
established the Zionist Yishuv became in Mandatory Palestine, the
more political reservations the Vatican added to its initial
theological inhibitions.[51]
On
26 May 1955, when the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra performed
Beethoven's Seventh Symphony at the Vatican as an act of respect
for Pius XII, the Vatican still refrained from mentioning the name
of the State, preferring instead to describe the orchestra as a
collection of "Jewish musicians of fourteen different
nationalities."[53]
Paul
VI was Pope from 21 June 1963 to 6 August 1978. He strongly
defended inter-religious dialogue in the spirit of Nostra Aetate.
He was also the first Pope to mention the Palestinian people by
name...On 15 January 1973, the Pope met Israeli Prime Minister
Golda Meir at the Vatican, which was the first meeting between
a Pope and an Israeli Prime Minister. At the meeting, the Pope
brought up the issues of peace in the Middle East, refugees and
the status of the holy places, but no agreement was reached.[58]
According to Meir's own account of the meeting, the Pope
criticized the Israeli government for its treatment of the
Palestinians, and she said in reply: Your Holiness, do you know
what my earliest memory is? A pogrom in Kiev. When we were
merciful and when we had no homeland and when we were weak, we
were led to the gas chambers.[59]
Relations
since 1993[edit]
The
opening towards the State of Israel by the Vatican was partially a
result of Israel's effective control over the entire Holy City
since 1967. This forced the Vatican to introduce a pragmatic
dimension to its well-known declaratory policy of political
denial. Hence, since 1967, Vatican diplomacy vis-Ã -vis
Israel began to waver between two parameters:
A
policy of strict and consequent non-recognition of Israel's
sovereignty over Jerusalem, far beyond the usual
interpretation of international law, as the Holy See still
embraces its own ideas regarding the special status of Jerusalem.
A
pragmatic policy, through which Catholic interests can best be
served by having a working relationship with the party who
exercises effective authority and control in Jerusalem.
The
establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1993–94, on
the other hand, was a belated political consequence of the
theological change towards Judaism as reflected in Nostra Aetate.
It was also a result of the new political reality, which began
with the Madrid COnference and later continued with the Oslo peace
process, after which the Vatican could not continue to ignore a
State that even the Palestinians had initiated formal relations
with.
Pope
Benedict XVI has declared that he wishes to maintain a positive
Christian-Jewish and Vatican-Israel relationship. Indeed, on the
occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state, Benedict
stated: "The Holy See joins you in giving thanks to the Lord
that the aspirations of the Jewish people for a home in the land
of their fathers have been fulfilled,"[72] which may be seen
as a theological justification of the return of the Jewish People
to Israel – indeed, an acceptance that has placed all
previous Catholic denials of Zionism in the shade. On the
other hand, he has also stressed the political neutrality of the
Holy See in internal Mideast conflicts. Like John Paul II, he was
disappointed by the non-resolution of the 1993 Fundamental Accord;
and like his predecessor, he also expressed support for a
Palestinian state alongside Israel. -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_See%E2%80%93Israel_relations
► Evangelical
support for Jews.
In contrast, 46%
of white evangelical (blacks only make up 6% of evangelicals)
Protestants, versus 33% of Prots and only 21% of Catholics say
that the U.S. is not providing enough support for Israel.
(2014) —
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/27/strong-support-for-israel-in-u-s-cuts-across-religious-lines/
As for the conflict
between Israel and the Palestinians, asked whether they sympathize
with either side, 72% of white evangelicals sided with Israel,
versus 56% of Prots and 46% of Caths overall. —
http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/3-19-13%20Foreign%20Policy%20Release.pdf
Of course, this is
consistent with the stats which shows 82% of white evangelical
Protestants say that Israel was given to the Jewish people by God,
versus 64% of Prots and just 34% of white Catholics, while 45%
of Catholics outright deny that it was (others do not know). —
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/03/more-white-evangelicals-than-american-jews-say-god-gave-israel-to-the-jewish-people/
► Egregious
ecumenism
In addition, Rome being
"friendlier"to Israel means not simply affirming Jews
and the right to live in peace but also means affirming that
Muslims worship the same God as Jews and Christians, that together
with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on
the last day.” (Lumen Gentium 16, November 21, 1964)
Which
is blasphemous. For with Allah, we are not dealing with an utterly
ambiguous "unknown god" as in Acts 17, which had no
express revelation and could said to be the true God they were
looking for. But Allah is much a distinct God, and in the name of
this false deity are the contradictory and skewed Biblical stories
of the Qur'an, besides adding its own, and which denies the very
essence of the gospel, that of the Divine Son of God procuring
salvation with His own sinless shed blood! Yet again and again
popes comfort Muslims by assuring them they have the true God,
while any gospel is largely replaced by platitudes for peace.
Rome says Muslims the
worship the same God as Catholics, "the
one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of
heaven and earth," and
"strive to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden
decrees of God, just as Abraham submitted himself to God’s
plan." -Second Vatican Council, Nostra Aetate 3, October 28,
1965
And,
We
feel sure that as representatives of Islam, you join in our
prayers to the Almighty, that he may grant all African
believers the desire for pardon and reconciliation so often
commended in the Gospels and in the Qur’an... We gladly
recall also those confessors of the Muslim faith who were the
first to suffer death, in the year 1848, for refusing to
transgress the precepts of their religion.” — Paul VI,
address to the Islamic communities of Uganda, August 1, 1969.
“I
deliberately address you as brothers:
that is certainly what we are, because we are members of the same
human family, whose efforts, whether people realize it or not,
tend toward God and the truth that comes from him. But we
are especially brothers in God, who created us and whom we are
trying to reach, in our own ways, through faith, prayer and
worship, through the keeping of his law and through submission to
his designs...
“Dear
Muslims, my brothers: I
would like to add that we Christians, just like you, seek the
basis and model of mercy in God himself, the
God to whom your Book gives the very beautiful name of al-Rahman,
while the Bible calls him al-Rahum, the Merciful One.” -
John Paul II, address to representatives of Muslims of the
Philippines, February 20, 1981
“As
Christians and Muslims,
we encounter one another in faith in the one God, our
Creator and guide, our just and merciful judge. - John Paul II,
address to representatives of the Muslims of Belgium, May 19, 1985
We
believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God
who created the world and brings his creatures to their
perfection...Both of us believe in one God, the only God, - John
Paul II , address to the young Muslims of Morocco, August 19, 1985
Christians
and Muslims, together with the followers of the Jewish religion,
belong to what can be called ‘the tradition of
Abraham.’..Our Creator and our final judge desires that we
live together. Our God is a God of peace, who desires peace among
those who live according to His commandments. Our God is the
holy God who desires that those who call upon Him live in ways
that are holy and upright. -John Paul II, address to Islamic
leaders of Senegal, Dakar, February 22, 1992
-http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/interreligious/islam/vatican-council-and-papal-statements-on-islam.cfm
