ARCHIVES of the INQUISITIONSome believe it houses evidence of extraterrestrial life. Others, ancient texts that disprove the existence of Jesus. Perhaps dark truths that would discredit and destroy the Church?A mistranslated Latin word may be responsible for the conspiracy theories about the Vatican Secret Archives. In fact, the actual contents can stand on their own without delving into the absurd.The archives, orArchivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum, contains historical records chronicling intriguing historical events. Its contents, once plundered by Napoleon and moved to Paris, span 12 centuries. Theres the document that began the Protestant reformations: Pope Leo Xs 1521 decree excommunicating Martin Luther. A 1530 petition from 85 English clergymen and lords asks Pope Clement VII to annul King Henry VIIIs marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The seals of many of the signatories were affixed to the petition, each held in place by red ribbon. This is considered the source of the term red tape. Clement refused, of course, leading to the establishment of the Anglican Church. Michelangelo penned a letter to the pope warning that Vatican guards hadnt received paychecks in three months, and that they were threatening to walk off the job. A year after Columbus landed in what became North America, Pope Alexander VI issuedInter Cetera, the 1493 papal bull that split the New World between Spain and Portugal. There are letters from Abraham Lincoln as well as Jefferson Davis, who wrote to try to convince Pope Pius IX that the South was an innocent victim of Northern aggression. Neither man was Catholic. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, the notion that Mary was conceived without original sin, was articulated in 1854 on a piece of parchment thats in the archives. Famous Vatican trials were recorded with handwritten transcripts that are housed there, including cases against the Knights Templar in the early 14th century and astronomer Galileo Galilei in the 17th, who was tried by the Vatican for heresy and forced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. When Swedens Queen Christina abdicated in 1654, she converted to Catholicism from Lutheranism, moved to Rome, and today she is one of the few women buried in St. Peters Basilica. Theres a letter to the pope announcing her conversion.Interesting, sure, but hardly the stuff of Dan Brown novels.See photos of items in the Vaticans archives here.Secretum, the Vatican says, translates more accurately to personal than to secret and refers to the private letters and historical records of past popes. In fact, the archives havent been secret since 1881, when Pope Leo XIII opened them up to scholarsPope Paul V created the Secret Archives in 1612. Four hundred years later, the Vatican celebrated by making 100 items available for public viewing for the first time. The exhibit,Lux in Arcana, shed some light on the papal past and provided some color to events that shaped history.David Kertzer spent years researching in the Secret Archives for his recent book,The Pope and Mussolini. He writes that Pope Pius XI, and his secretary of state, who became Pope Pius XII, made deals with Mussolini to protect the Churchs interest in exchange for silence on state-sponsored anti-Semitism, a conclusion at odds with the Churchs account.People talk, scholars talk. Are there things that arent being made available because theyre seen as unflattering from a Church point of view? Kertzer, an anthropology professor at Brown University, said.Top of FormBottom of FormStill, Kertzer said, the Secret Archives are staffed by professionals, and theres an appreciation of serious historical scholarship.Thats not to say that the holdings are easily accessible.Scholars enter through thePorta SantAnna, pass Swiss Guards, walk through theCortile del Belvedere, and present credentials that must be renewed every 6 months. Journalists, students, and amateur historians arent welcome.Related

Photos from inside the Vatican Secret ArchivesMoreOnce admitted, theres no browsing. Instead, researchers request specific documents, using bulky catalogues, some handwritten in Italian or Latin. They can request up to three folders each day.If in just a few minutes they realize that what theyre seeking isnt in the requested folders, theyre forced to pack up for the day a challenge for scholars on a deadline or those who have traveled long distances.Computers are allowed, but photos arent, which means long sessions in the third-floor reading room typing notes.Are there things that aren't being made available because theyre seen as unflattering from a Church point of view? David Kertzer, anthropology professor at Brown UniversityWhats next?The sitting pope decides when to expand the archives.Pope Francis is considering when to open the full archives of Pope Pius XII, the man dubbed Hitlers Pope by some, but whose cause for canonization is championed by Church traditionalists who say he hid Jews from the Nazis.For the Vatican, mystery and palace intrigue come with the territory. But for a department whose official name includes the word secret, there is transparency around many items known to be housed there.///////////////////

Vatican Secret ArchivesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seal of the Vatican Secret ArchivesTheVatican Secret Archives(Latin:Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum), located inVatican City, is the central repository for all of the actspromulgatedby theHoly See. ThePope, having primal incumbency until death or resignation, owns the archives until the next appointedPapal successor. Thearchivesalso contain thestate papers, correspondence,papalaccount books,[1]and many other documents which the church has accumulated over the centuries. In the 17th century, under the orders ofPope Paul V, the Secret Archives were separated from theVatican Library, where scholars had some very limited access to them, and remained absolutely closed to outsiders until 1881, whenPope Leo XIIIopened them to researchers, more than a thousand of whom now examine its documents each year.[2]The use of the word "secret" in the title "Vatican Secret Archives" does not denote the modern meaning of confidentiality. Its meaning is closer to that of the word "private", indicating that the archives are the Pope's personal property, not belonging to those of any particular department of theRoman Curiaor theHoly See. The word "secret" was generally used in this sense as also reflected in phrases such as "secret servants", "secret cupbearer", "secret carver", or "secretary", much like an esteemed position of honor and regard comparable to aVIP.[3]Contents[hide] 1Extent 2Access 3Opening of the archives 42012 exhibition 5Cardinal Archivists of the Vatican Secret Archives 5.1Prefects of the Vatican Secret Archives 6Other Holy See archives 7See also 8References 9Further reading 10External links 10.1News articlesExtent[edit]The Vatican Secret Archives have been estimated to contain 52 miles (84km) of shelving,[4]and there are 35,000 volumes in the selectivecataloguealone. "Indexes must be consulted in the Index Room and replaced in their original location. Publication of the indexes, in part or as a whole, is forbidden."[5]The Archives support their own photographic and conservation studios.According to the website of the Archives, the oldest surviving document dates back to the end of the eighth century. "Transfers and political upheavals nearly caused the total loss of all the archival material precedingInnocent III."[6]From 1198 onwards, more complete archives exist, though documentation is scant before the 13th century. Since that time, the documentation includes items such asHenry VIII of England's request for a marriage annulment,[7]and letters fromMichelangelo.Access[edit]The entrance to the Archives, adjacent to theVatican Library, is through the Porta di S. Anna in via di Porta Angelica (rioneofBorgo). New underground storage space was added in 1980.[8]Qualified scholars from institutions of higher education pursuing scientific researches, with an adequate knowledge of archival research, may apply for an entry card. Scholars need an introductory letter by either a recognized institute of research or by a suitably qualified person in the field of historical research. Applicants need to specify their personal data (name, address etc.) as well as the purpose of their research. Undergraduate students are not admitted.Opening of the archives[edit]Customarily, documents are made available to the public after a period of 75 years. 1817: Vatican Secret Archive brought back to the Vatican from France.[9] 1883: Pope Leo XIII opened archives dated 1815 or earlier. 1924: Documents up to the end of the pontificate ofGregory XVI(June 1, 1846) were released. 1966: Documents from the pontificate ofPius IX(184678). (The opening of this material was originally planned during the pontificate ofPius XII.) 1978: Documents from the pontificate of Leo XIII (18781903). 1985: Documents from the pontificates ofPius X(190314) andBenedict XV(191422). 2002 (effective from 2003): Documents from the historical archives of theSecretariat of State(Second Section) pertaining to the Holy See's relations with Germany during the pontificate ofPope Pius XI(192239). The reason for this exceptional action was "to put an end to unjust and thoughtless speculation."[10] 2006: All documents from the pontificate of Pope Pius XI.[11]2012 exhibition[edit]To mark the 400th anniversary of the Vatican Archives, 100 original documents dating from the 8th to the 20th century were put on display from February to September 2012 in the "Lux in arcana The Vatican Secret Archives reveals itself" exhibition held at theCapitoline Museumsin Rome. They included the 1521bullof excommunication ofMartin Lutherand a letter fromMary, Queen of Scots, written while awaiting her execution.[12][13]///////////10 secrets of the Vatican exposed

DavidGoldenberg

Believe it or not, Vatican City actually has the highest crime rate in the world. Giorgio Cosulich/Getty ImagesMarch 13, 2013

Vatican City may have fewer than 1,000 citizens and spans only 110 acres, but it also has a multimillion-dollar budget and an unbelievably complex history. Understanding how it all works requires parsing through centuries of religious texts. Is the Vatican confusing and mysterious? Is the pope Catholic? A look behind the scenes:1. Regular exorcise!Baudelaire once said that "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist." But in modern-day Vatican City, the devil is considered alive and well. The late Pope John Paul II personally performed three exorcisms during his reign, and Pope Benedict XVI expanded the ranks of Catholic-sponsored exorcists throughout the world. In fact, Father Gabriele Amorth, the Church's chief exorcist, claims to expel more than 300 demons a year from the confines of his Vatican office, and there are some 350 exorcists operating on behalf of the Catholic Church in Italy alone. Amorth also teaches bishops how to tell the difference between satanic possession and psychiatric illness, noting that those who suffer from the former seem to be particularly repulsed by the sight of holy water and the cross.2. Where thieves go to preyWith 1.5 crimes per citizen, Vatican City has the highest crime rate in the world.It's not that the cardinals are donning masks and repeatedly robbing the bank, it's just that the massive crowds of tourists make Vatican City a pickpocket's paradise. The situation is complicated by the fact that the Vatican has no working prison and only one judge. So most criminals are simply marched across the border into Italy, as part of a pact between the two countries. (The Vatican's legal code is based on Italy's, with some modifications regarding abortion and divorce.) Crimes that the Vatican sees fit to try itself mainly shoplifting in its duty-free stores are usually punished by temporarily revoking the troublemaker's access to those areas. But not every crime involves theft. In 2007, the Vatican issued its first drug conviction after an employee was found with a few ounces of cocaine in his desk.3. The worst confessionsSome sins are simply too much for a local bishop to forgive. While priests can absolve a sin as serious as murder (according to the Church), there are five specific sins that require absolution from the Apostolic Penitentiary. This secretive tribunal has met off and on for the past 830 years, but in January 2009, for the first time ever, its members held a press conference to discuss their work.Three of the five sins they contemplate can only be committed by the clergy. If you're a priest who breaks the seal of confession, a priest who offers confession to his own sexual partners, or a man who has directly participated in an abortion and wants to become a priest, then your case must go before the tribunal to receive absolution. The other two sins can be committed by anyone. The first, desecrating the Eucharist, is particularly bad because Catholics believe that the bread and wine transubstantiate into the body and blood of Christ. Messing with them is like messing with Jesus. And then, there's the sin of attempting to assassinate the pope. That one's pretty self-explanatory.The meetings of the Apostolic Penitentiary are kept confidential because they're a different form of confession. The sinner is referred to by a pseudonym, and only the Major Penitentiary, Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro, decides how the sin shall be dealt with. Presumably, a bunch of Hail Marys doesn't cut it.4. You can read the Pope's mailThe Vatican's secret archives haven't been truly secret since Pope Leo XIII first allowed scholars to visit in 1881. Today, it's even more accessible. Outsiders are free to examine the correspondences of every pope for the past 1,000 years, although there is one catch: Guests have to know exactly what they're looking for. With 52 miles of shelves in the archives, the librarians prohibit browsing.The most famous existing letter is probably Henry VIII's request that his marriage to Catherine of Aragon be annulled, which Pope Clement VII denied. Henry divorced Catherine anyway and married Anne Boleyn (and four other women), leading to Rome's break with the Church of England. The archives also contain an abundance of red ribbons, which were used to bind 85 petitions from English clergyman and aristocrats.5. The Pope liked to text messageDuring his tenure, Pope Benedict XVI routinely sent text messages of his homilies to mobile subscribers around the world, and in 2009, the Vatican opened up an official YouTube channel to show various papal addresses and ceremonies. The Vatican even released an iPhone application that contains multilingual versions of the Breviary prayer book and the prayers of daily mass. Most recently, Benedict hadjoined Twitterin December, two months before his resignation. The Vatican's enthusiasm for technology isn't limited to cell phones and the internet. It has also added solar panels to the roof of the Pope Paul VI auditorium as part of its commitment to fight climate change.6. The Vatican has the finest Swiss bodyguardsNowadays, the Swiss have a reputation for pacifism, but back in the 1500s, they were considered an unstoppable military force. Swiss armies were renowned for the their mastery of a weapon called the halberd, a deadly combination of a spear and an axe, and their ground troops were famous for routinely demolishing legions of enemies on horseback. After Pope Julius II witnessed their ferocity in battle 500 years ago, he recruited a few soldiers to become his personal bodyguards. Ever since, Swiss Guards have pledged fidelity to the pope, sometimes dying for the cause. During the sacking of Rome in 1527, for instance, three quarters of them were killed while providing cover for Pope Clement VII to escape.Today, the hundred or so members of the Swiss Guard spend most of their time bedecked in Renaissance garb, twirling their halberds in ceremonies or manning checkpoints around the Vatican. When the Guards are actually protecting the pope, they wear plain clothes and carry distinctly modern weapons.7. The Mafia dipped into the collection plateInThe Godfather: Part III, a shady deal between the Mafia and the Vatican leads to the murder of the pope. Was this based on a true story? Possibly. On the morning of September 29, 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead, sitting up in his bed, after only 33 days in office. Although Vatican officials claimed the 65-year-old pope died of a heart attack, there was never an autopsy, and at the time, the Vatican definitely had ties to organized crime. Sure enough, in 1982, Vatican Bank president Father Paul Marcinkus resigned from his post after a series of scandals exposed the bank's ties to the Mafia. Eventually, the bank had to repay more than $200 million to its creditors. But Marcinkus was never indicted of a crime, and though he was suspected of being involved in several mysterious deaths, including Pope John Paul I's, Marcinkussuccessfully claimed diplomatic immunity in the United States and retired to Arizona in 1990, and died there 16 years later.8. There's no vice popeOnce a cardinal becomes the pope, he's the designated leader of the Catholic Church and God's representative on Earth for the rest of his life which was basically the case until Pope Benedict XVI's surprise resignation last month. (Up until then, it had been more than 500 years since the last papal resignation.) Further, as modern medicine improves, even seriously ill people tend to stick around longer, meaning that a pope could be alive but unable to perform his duties for years, as was the case with John Paul II. What happens then? Well, no one is really sure. A cardinal can take over the pope's responsibilities as the Vatican's head of state, but no one else is allowed to carry out his ceremonial duties. In the end, many masses and benedictions simply go unperformed until the pope either passes away or recovers.9. Faith-based economicsThe Vatican needs several hundred million dollars per year to operate. Its many financial responsibilities include running international embassies, paying for the pope's travels around the world, maintaining ancient cathedrals, and donating considerable resources to schools, churches, and health care centers. So where does that money come from? Catholics pay tithes to their local parishes and donate about $100 million every year to the Vatican itself. But collection plates aren't the Vatican's only source of money. The city-state also gets cash from books, museums, stamps, and souvenir shops. (Get your limited-edition Vatican euros!)But that's not always enough. At the end of 2007, the city-state was $13.5 million in the hole. Part of the problem was the weakened American dollar, which translated into less purchasing power. Another contributing factor was the lackluster performance of the Vatican's newspaper,L'Osservatore Romano. To boost subscriptions, Pope Benedict asked the editor to spice up the layout with more photos and allowed him to cover world news stories in addition to the traditional religious fare.10. Even the ATMS are in LatinThe Vatican Bank is the only bank in the world that allows ATM users to select Latin to perform transactions. That's just one symbol of the Holy See's continued devotion to the language. Pope Benedict XVI had been particularly passionate about reviving the language and purportedly held many informal conversations in Latin. (Pope John Paul II generally spoke Polish.)The Vatican's Latin Foundation tries to keep the language relevant by translating modern phrases into the ancient tongue. In 2003, they released an updated dictionary that included the terms "rush hour" (tempus maximae frequentiae) and "dishwasher" (escariorum lavatory).//////////////Making the Invisible Visible: The Secret Vatican Archives.Posted onMarch 4, 2013byChristina JohnWith the surprise and somewhat sudden resignation of Pope Benedict XVI the Catholic Church and the Vatican have been thrust onto the world stage. While the world will be focused upon the conclave of cardinals who will elect a new Pope at the end of this March, little attention will be paid to the world beneath the Cathedrals of Rome where miles and miles of underground shelving and antiquated parchment make up theSecret Vatican Archives(Archivum Secretum Vaticanum).

Some of the 50 miles of bookshelves in the Vatican secret archive Photo: The Vatican Secret Archives, Vdh BooksPerhaps made famous by its depiction in the 2009 film based off of Dan BrownsAngels and Demonsthe archive has always had an aura of mystery, conspiracy, and black legend attached to its name. While much of this has been exaggerated in film and literature the archive does hold some of the worlds oldest and most influential documents including priceless materials such as: Handwritten records of Galileos trial before the Inquisition The 1530 petition from Englands House of Lords asking the Pope to annual Henry VIIIs marriage to Catherine of Aragon Letters from Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis during the U.S. Civil War The papal bull excommunicating Martin Luther Letters from Michelangelo including one where he complained about not receiving payment for his work on the Sistine Chapel.Founded in 1612 the Vatican Secret Archives is a treasure trove of documents whose materials cover a time span that stretches from the 8thto 20thcentury. Specifically, the archives is the central archives of the Holy See and contains the historical archives of different private and public institution, which include various religious orders and famous families and individuals[1].For most of the world, the archives priceless cultural items have remained hidden deep within the Vatican for over 400 years. In fact it wasnt until 1881 that Pope Leo XIII opened the doors of the archive to scholars from all faiths and nations. Even today there are strict limitations to what archive users are able to view and access. For instance no materials dated after 1939 are available for public viewing.

A document from the Vatican Secret Archives with Galileos own signature. Photo Courtsey Lux in Arcana ExhibitAnd yet in the spirit of open access and freedom of information that is foundational to the library and information world, even the Vaticans Secret Archives is trying to shed light into its often hidden archive. This metaphor is perfectly illustrated in the chosen name of the archives first ever exhibitLux in Arcanaor Light in Mysterious Places. Opened from March to September 2012 the Vatican assembled an exhibit to celebrate the 400thanniversary of the archives founding. The exhibit,which can be sampled online, hopes to promote a greater sense of openness by displaying 100 of its most prized original documents. Historically the archives documents have only been viewed by few individuals outside the Vatican, however theLux in Arcanaexhibit opens the archives contents up to millions of eyes around the world. TheVatican Libraryis also following this trend to share its materials with the world with therecent announcementof its ambitious project to digitize large portions of its collection including the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed using movable type in Europe.[2]With the unprecedentedLux in Arcanaexhibition and now upcoming election of a new pope the Vatican, a bastion of tradition, shows signs of change and evolution.////////////////Archive of the Inquisition Back to Projects Dashboard 1 Project Discussion 17 Project Profiles Photos and DocumentsShareEmbed Project Tweet ThisProject Tags religionRelated Projects Al-Andalus Crypto Jews, Conversos, Marranos & Anusim Inquisio Portuguesa (Portuguese Inquisition) Jewish Ancestry Research Guide Jewish Genealogy Portal: A Guide to Jewish Projects and Resources on Geni Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic Popes Sephardic Families Who Settled in Europe after Expulsion from Spain in 1492 Sephardic Luminaries Sephardic and Crypto-Jews of New MexicoTop SurnamesLopes Franco,d'Arc,Farnese,Ashwoodand12 othersview allProfiles Leonor Ribeira(1530 - 1595)Processada pela inquisio junto com suas duas irms, e levada para Lisboa para o julgamento. PROCESSO DE LEONOR RIBEIRA Estatuto social: crist-nova Idade: 60 anos ... Francisco Lopes Franco(c.1565 - c.1640)Negociante em Lisboa processado e preso por judasmo na inquisio, fonte Torre do Tombo: Processo de Francisco Lopes Franco Nvel de descrio Documento c... Antnio Jos da Silva, "O Judeu"(1705 - 1739)Antnio Jos da Silva, de cognome "o judeu" (Rio de Janeiro, 8 de Maio de 1705 - Lisboa, 19 de Outubro de 1739). Nasceu numa fazenda nos arredores do Rio de Janeiro e mudou-se para a Ca... Mateus Lopes Franco(c.1600 - c.1657)Nascido em Lisboa, Portugal, filho dos Cristo-Novos, Francisco Lopes Franco (natural de Alm-Tejo) e Guiomar da Maia (natural de Lisboa). Comeou a vida a vida como simples come... Luis Lopes Franco(deceased)O processo por judasmo, movido pela inquisio, dos irmos Mateus e Lus Lopes Franco encontra-se na Torre do Tombo, podendo ser acessado nesse link: Mateus Lopes ... About edit history

For information relating specifically to the Spanish Inquisition, please seeSpanish Inquisition.TheArchive of the Inquisition(or more fully theArchive of the Inquisition and Index), officially referred to as theArchive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith(abbreviated toACDFforArchivio Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei) in the Vatican, contains theCatholic Church'sdocuments dealing with doctrinal and theological issues related to church teaching. It also contains information on political trials that were carried out when the papacy had temporal power over the Papal States.BackgroundAlso see:Crypto-Judaism.By 1500, the Catholic Church had reached an apparently dominant position as the established religious authority in western and central Europe dominating a faith-landscape in which Judaism, Waldensianism, Hussitism, Lollardry and the finally conquered Muslimsal-Andalus(the Muslim-dominated Spain) hardly figured in terms of numbers or influence.When the institutions of the Church felt themselves threatened by what they perceived as the heresy, and then schism of the Protestant Reformation, they reacted.Paul III(Pope from 1534 to 1549) established a system of tribunals, administered by the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition", and staffed by cardinals and other Church officials. This system would later become known as the Roman Inquisition.In 1908 Pope Saint Pius X renamed the organisation: it became the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office". This in its turn became the "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" in 1965, which name continues to this day.OpeningOn 22 January 1998 the Vatican opened all Inquisition archives up to the death of Leo XIII. At first, there was space for only twelve scholars within the archives, but this has been increased as demand for the use of the material has increased.ContentsAmong the episodes in Inquisition history are the tens of thousands of trials in which accused individuals orreosfaced questioning, sometimes torture, and ultimately sentencing (when found guilty) at the hands of inquisitional functionaries. The notorious policies of secrecy combined with equally notorious outcomes inspired huge levels of fear. These documents provided researchers with crucial evidence regarding the Inquisitors actual exercise of power and their impact on targeted segments of society. More or less complete trial transcripts show the spectacular cases of Archbishop Carranza (1559-1576).List of those triedBelow is a list of people found in the Archive of the Inquisition that have profiles on Geni. Antonia Roiz o Maduro- sentenced to be burned to death by the Inquisition in Portugal for "crimes against the Catholic faith and for observance of the laws of Moses." He was burned alive at the stake in the central square of the Portuguese city of Coimbra. Antnio Jos da Silva, o judeu(1705-1739) Branca Dias(1515-1558) Cardinal Morone(1552-1559) Gallileo Galilei(1633) Luis de Carvajaland his family (1589-1596) Mexican crypto-Jew and his family Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi- a 16th century international banker who created an escape network that saved thousands of Crypto-Jews from the Inquisition. She was also a patron of (Jewish) writers, and a diplomat on behalf of her people, who also attempted to start a modern state of Israel. Luis Carvajal de la Cueva (1537-1580) the governor of the state of Nuevo Len, a northern Mexico province in which the restriction against immigration from conversos was relaxed in order to encourage migration to the peril-fraught frontier. He was responsible for bringing a significant group of crypto-Jewish conversos living in Portugal since the Expulsion of 1492. Felix de Miranda- a New Christian business man, native of the town of Almeyda in the Bishopric of Lamego, convicted and burned at the stake. Luis de Carvajal el Mozo- the nephew of Jose Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva, the only crypto-Jew of the Spanish colonial era whose memoirs have been preserved. Antonio Fernandez Carvajal- a Portuguese merchant in London; "like other Marranos in London, Carvajal prayed at the Catholic chapel of the Spanish ambassador, while simultaneously playing a leading role in the secret Jewish community, which met at the clandestine synagogue at Creechurch Lane." Some scholars of Judaic studies believe that Miguel de Cervantes may have been a crypto-Jew or of crypto-Jewish descent. Rodrigo Lopez- a converso who fled from Portugal to England and became physician to Queen Elizabeth I. Giordano Bruno- burned alive at the stake on piazza Campo de Fiori, in Rome, on February 17, 1600, for his convictions, which were judged heretical by the Tribunal of the Roman Inquisition, the Vatican Secret Archives unveils the summary of the trial of Giordano Bruno, the 17th document on display at the Capitoline Museums in the Lux in Arcana: The Vatican Secret Archives Reveals Itself exhibition. Tomas Trebino de Sobremonte, a very wealthy and influential Converso, was imprisoned for 5 years, beaten and tortured daily, and was forced to watch as his wife and children were dismembered before his eyes. He was finally burned alive at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition on April 11, 1649, in Guaxaca, Virreinato de Nueva Espaa. Mateus Lopes Franco(1600-1657) Luis Lopes Franco(1600-16??)////////

Premieres May 2007Check your local listings

Based on previously unreleased secret documents from European Archives including the Vatican, Secret Files of the Inquisition unveils the incredible true story of the Catholic Church's 500-year struggle to remain the world's only true Christian religion.

At the dawn of the second millennium Europe was slowly emerging from the blackness and ignorance of the Dark Ages. There were no nations and the people were loyal only to their immediate community and to God. The keeper of God's word was the Catholic Church, the only religion in all of Christendom. The supreme religious leader, the Pope in Rome, crowned the Kings who became rulers of the Holy Roman Empire stretching from Sicily north to Poland. The Emperor was ruler of the temporal world while the Pope and his Bishops reigned supreme over the Spiritual world.

By the 12th and 13th century, cracks began appearing in this ordered world. Emperors no longer submitted to being crowned by the Pope and across Europe Kings demanded the right to select their own Bishops. But for the Pope the most terrifying threat came from upstart Christian sects who challenged church doctrine and the absolute power of the Roman Pope. To preserve the purity of the faith and the unquestioned authority of the Pope, the Church began to crack down on all dissenting with a new weapon: the Inquisition. For over half a millennium a system of mass terror reigned. Thousands were subject to secret courts, torture and punishment.

///////But who was Giordano Bruno, and why was he executed in the Campo de' Fiori in 1600? A common misperception mixes him up with Galileo, who ran into trouble with the church 16 years later for embracing the Copernican model of the solar system instead of endorsing the Aristotelian belief that the sun revolves around the Earth. (In fact, the two men shared an Inquisitor, the implacable Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, canonized by the Catholic Church in 1930.) Bruno, too, thought that the Earth circled the sun, and subscribed to many other than heterodox ideas as well: that the universe is infinite and that everything in it is made up of tiny particles (i.e., atoms), and that it is immeasurably old. But as Ingrid Rowland demonstrates in her new biography of the renegade thinker, "Giordano Bruno: Philosopher/Heretic," Bruno was no martyr for science. What got him killed was a murky mixture of spiritual transgression and personal foibles, combined with a large dose of bad luck.Well, part of the problem was that he thought most of the Church officials were idiots (or "asses" in his own words) and he had low tolerance for stupidity. However, more interestingly, he was fascinated with large numbers and he believed in an infinite cosmos with multitudes of solar systems. Very cool! Some of these ideas, of course, also led to problems with the orthodox Catholic beliefs. From theNew Yorkerreview:If there were countless worlds besides ours, this sidelined the Christian story. Creation, expulsion, salvation: such things might have happened, but somewhere off in a corner, while other things were happening on other planets. Also eliminated was Gods difference from humanity. If, as Bruno saw it, God was present in every atom of the universe, then transubstantiation became a silly idea. (God was already in the wine.) Ditto incarnation. Bruno later said that he started having doubts about Jesus at the age of eighteen; in his mature philosophy, the Messiah has no place. Nor does original sin, or pretty much any sin. God makes his sun rise over good and bad, Bruno wrote. Even devils were going to be pardoned. To lead a virtuous life, you had only to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As the reader may have noticed by now, much of this constitutes liberal Christian thought in our time. (What Bruno discarded was the Churchs literalismexactly what many of todays believers have done.) Likewise, Brunos cosmology anticipated modern physics and astronomy. But it did not accord with the views of the sixteenth-century Church. It sounded like Protestantism, or worse.Ultimately, there was a combination of factors, including his personality, that did him in (from Salon):It was what Rowland calls Bruno's "combative personality" that finally did him in. The Roman Inquisition, in an especially insecure and punitive mood on account of widespread Protestant agitation against the church, had only the Venetian nobleman's testimony against the philosopher. Then one of Bruno's former cellmates, a man he'd slapped during a dispute and who feared that Bruno had informed on him as well, stepped forward to relate the various blasphemies and heretical convictions Bruno had spouted during their time together behind bars....The last straw was Bruno's refusal to accept the authority of the Inquisition itself. Even so, his rebellion was peculiarly Catholic: He kept insisting he'd recant if the pope personally confirmed to him that his beliefs were heresy. This infuriated Cardinal Bellarmine, known for his conviction that harsh punishments make good teachers. Sixteen years later, Galileo managed to elude the more extreme penalties meted out by Bellarmine and company with a public (and essentially politic) repudiation of his heliocentric views; he lived to fight another day under a relatively comfortable house arrest. Bruno was characteristically less prudent, and died naked and gagged (by some accounts with an iron spike through his tongue), in flames.As Rowland points out, Bruno, irascible as he was, had committed no crime, not even the disruption of mass, a common practice by militant Protestants of the day (and also punishable by death). He "had done nothing in his life except talk, write and argue." When his fate was pronounced, he told his condemners, "You may be more afraid to bring that sentence against me than I am to accept it." It took a long time for that to prove true, yet thanks to those idealistic 19th-century students, everyone who comes to Rome to behold the splendor of the Vatican is also presented with a reminder of its bloody, repressive past. Every year, on the anniversary of his death, free-thinking Romans cover his statue with flowers. While the church has since expressed "profound regret" for his persecution (which it simultaneously tries to palm off on "civil authority"), this can't be comfortably reconciled with the canonization of Bellarmine a mere seven decades ago. Dead 400 years and largely unread but immortalized nevertheless in bronze, Giordano Bruno is still a thorn in their side.Read the reviews fromSalonand theNew Yorker. Both of these reviews are excellent. The New Yorker review is longer and provides more details about his philosophical ideas and his work in the arts of memory (this also played a role in his downfall).Posted bySalman Hameedat11:30 AMEmail ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest/////////InquisitionFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThis article is about the Inquisition within the Roman Catholic Church. For other uses, seeInquisition (disambiguation).It has been suggested thatHistorical revision of the Inquisitionbemergedinto this article. (Discuss)Proposed since May 2013.

A 19th-century depiction of Galileo before the Holy Office, byJoseph-Nicolas Robert-FleuryTheInquisitionis[1]a group of institutions within the judicial system of theRoman Catholic Churchwhose aim is to combatheresy. It started in12th-centuryFranceto combat religious sectarianism, in particular theCatharsand theWaldensians. Other groups which were investigated later include theSpiritual Franciscans, theHussites(followers of Jan Hus) andBeguines. Beginning in the 1250s, inquisitors were generally chosen from members of theDominican Order, to replace the earlier practice of using local clergy as judges.[2]The termMedieval Inquisitioncovers these courts up through the 14th century.In theLate Middle Agesand earlyRenaissance, the concept and scope of the Inquisition was significantly expanded in response to theProtestant Reformationand the CatholicCounter-Reformation. Its geographic scope was expanded to otherEuropeancountries,[3]resulting in theSpanish InquisitionandPortuguese Inquisition. Those two kingdoms in particular operated inquisitorial courts throughout their respective empires (SpanishandPortuguese) in theAmericas(resulting in thePeruvian InquisitionandMexican Inquisition),Asia, andAfrica.[4]One particular focus of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions was the issue ofJewishanusimandMuslimconverts to Catholicism, partly because these minority groups were more numerous in Spain and Portugal than in many other parts of Europe, and partly because they were often considered suspect due to the assumption that they had secretly reverted to their previous religions.Except within thePapal States, the institution of the Inquisition was abolished in the early 19th century, after theNapoleonic warsin Europe and after theSpanish American wars of independencein the Americas. The institution survived as part of theRoman Curia, but in 1904 was given the new name of "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office". In 1965 it became theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.Contents[hide] 1Definition and purpose 2Historical background 3Medieval Inquisition 4Early Modern European history 4.1Witch-trials 4.2Spanish Inquisition 4.3Inquisition in the Spanish overseas empire 4.4Portuguese Inquisition 4.5Roman Inquisition 5Ending of the Inquisition in the 19th and 20th centuries 6Statistics 7Alternative Views 8Appearance in popular media 9See also 9.1Documents and works 9.2Notable inquisitors 9.3Notable cases 10References 11External linksDefinition and purpose[edit]The termInquisitioncomes from Medieval Latin "inquisitio", which referred to any court process that was based on Roman law, which had gradually come back into usage in the late medieval period.[5]Today, the English term "Inquisition" can apply to any one of several institutions which worked againstheretics(or other offenders againstcanon law) within the judicial system of theRoman Catholic Church. Although the termInquisitionis usually applied to ecclesiastical courts of the Catholic Church, nonetheless it has several different usages:[6][need quotation to verify] anecclesiasticaltribunal, the institution of the Catholic Church for combating heresy, a number of historicalexpurgationmovements against heresy (orchestrated by the Catholic Church or a Catholic state), or the trial of an individual accused of heresy.Generally, the Inquisition was concerned only with the heretical behaviour of Catholic adherents or converts and did not concern itself with those outside that religion such as Jews or Muslims.[7][need quotation to verify]When a suspect was convicted of unrepentant heresy, the inquisitorial tribunal was required by law to hand the person over to the secular authorities for final sentencing, at which point a magistrate would determine the penalty, which was usually burning at the stake although the penalty varied based on local law.[8][9]The laws were inclusive of proscriptions against certain religious crimes (heresy, etc.), and the punishments includeddeath by burning, although imprisonment for life or banishment would usually be used. Thus the inquisitors generally knew what would be the fate of anyone so remanded, and cannot be considered to have divorced the means of determining guilt from its effects.[10]The 1578 handbook for inquisitors spelled out the purpose of inquisitorial penalties:... quoniam punitio non refertur primo & per se in correctionem & bonum eius qui punitur, sed in bonum publicum ut alij terreantur, & a malis committendis avocentur.Translation from the Latin: "... for punishment does not take place primarily andper sefor the correction and good of the person punished, but for the public good in order that others may become terrified and weaned away from the evils they would commit."[11]Historical background[edit]Before 1100, the Catholic Church had already suppressed what they believed to be heresy, usually through a system of ecclesiastical proscription or imprisonment, but without using torture[3]and seldom resorting to executions.[12][13]Such punishments had a number of ecclesiastical opponents, although some countries punished heresy with thedeath penalty.[14][15]In the 12th century, to counter the spread ofCatharism, prosecution of heretics became more frequent. The Church charged councils composed of bishops and archbishops with establishing inquisitions (seeEpiscopal Inquisition). The first Inquisition was temporarily established inLanguedoc(south of France) in 1184. The murder in 1208 of Pope Innocent's papal legate Pierre de Castelnau sparked theAlbigensian Crusade(12091229). The Inquisition was permanently established in 1229. It was centered under the Dominicans[16]in Rome and later atCarcassonnein Languedoc.Medieval Inquisition[edit]Main articles:Medieval InquisitionandAd extirpandaHistorians use the term "Medieval Inquisition" to describe the various inquisitions that started around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (11841230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). These inquisitions responded to large popular movements throughout Europe consideredapostateor heretical toChristianity, in particular theCatharsin southern France and theWaldensiansin both southern France and northern Italy. Other Inquisitions followed after these first inquisition movements. Legal basis for some inquisitorial activity came fromPope Innocent IV'spapal bullAd extirpandaof 1252, which explicitly authorized (and defined the appropriate circumstances for) the use oftortureby the Inquisition for eliciting confessions from heretics.[17]By 1256 inquisitors were given absolution if they used instruments of torture.[18]In the 13th century,Pope Gregory IX(reigned 12271241) assigned the duty of carrying out inquisitions to theDominican Order. Most inquisitors were friars who taught theology and/or law in the universities. They usedinquisitorial procedures, a common legal practice adapted from the earlier Ancient Roman court procedures.[19]They judged heresy along with bishops and groups of "assessors" (clergy serving in a role that was roughly analogous to a jury or legal advisers), using the local authorities to establish a tribunal and to prosecute heretics. After 1200, aGrand Inquisitorheaded each Inquisition. Grand Inquisitions persisted until the mid 19th century.[20]Early Modern European history[edit]

Emblem of the Inquisition (1571)With the sharpening of debate and of conflict between theProtestant Reformationand the CatholicCounter-Reformation, Protestant societies came to see/use the Inquisition as a terrifying "Other" trope,[21]while staunch Catholics regarded the Holy Office as a necessary bulwark against the spread of reprehensible heresies.Witch-trials[edit]See also:Early Modern witch-trialsThe prosecution of witchcraft generally became more prominent throughout the late medieval and Renaissance era, perhaps driven partly by the upheavals of the era - the Black Death, Hundred Years War, and a gradual cooling of the climate which modern scientists call theLittle Ice Age(between about the 15th and 19th centuries). Witches were sometimes blamed.Pope Innocent VIII, in hispapal bullSummis desiderantes affectibus(5 December 1484), called for measures againstmagiciansandwitchesinGermany. The grip of freezing weather, failing crops, rising crime, and mass starvation were blamed on witches.[22][23]"It has recently come to our ears, not without great pain to us, that in some parts of upper Germany, [...] Mainz, Koin, Trier, Salzburg, and Bremen, many persons of both sexes, heedless of their own salvation and forsaking the catholic faith, give themselves over to devils male and female, and by their incantations, charms, and conjurings, and by other abominable superstitions and sortileges, offences, crimes, and misdeeds, ruin and cause to perish the offspring of women, the foal of animals, the products of the earth, the grapes of vines, and the fruits of trees, as well as men and women, cattle and flocks and herds and animals of every kind, vineyards also and orchards, meadows, pastures, harvests, grains and other fruits of the earth; that they afflict and torture with dire pains and anguish, both internal and external, these men, women, cattle, flocks, herds, and animals, and hinder men from begetting [...]"[24]A similar theme is found in theMalleus Maleficarumwritten in 1486, which stated that witchcraft was to blame for bad weather. These remarks are included in Part 2, Chapter XV, which is entitled: "How they Raise and Stir up Hailstorms and Tempests, and Cause Lightning to Blast both Men and Beasts":[25]"Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that, just as easily as they raise hailstorms, so can they cause lightning and storms at sea; and so no doubt at all remains on these points."Although men as well as women could be open to this charge, the title of the book itself is feminine in gender and Kramer wrote in section I that: "all witchcraft comes from carnal lust which is in women insatiable". In 1490, shortly after the book's initial publication, the Catholic Church ruled that the "Malleus Maleficarum" was false,[citation needed]and in 1538 theSpanish Inquisitioncautioned against using it.[26]Spreading fromTyrol, where it originated, to other Germanic States, it helped to fuel thewitchhuntsinProtestantcountries in the seventeenth century as well.[citation needed]Most of Medieval Western and Central Europe had long-standing Catholic standardisation mixed with some survivals of earlier non-Christian practices such as the use of charms or incantations,[clarification needed]with intermittent localized occurrences of different ideas (such asCatharismorPlatonism) and sometimes recurringanti-Semiticoranti-Judaicactivity. These parochial beliefs and practices were commonly used as the basis for charges of witchcraft or heresy.With theProtestant Reformation, Catholic authorities became much more ready to suspect heresy in any new ideas,[27]including those ofRenaissance humanism,[28]previously strongly supported by many at the top of the Church hierarchy. The extirpation of heretics became a much broader and more complex enterprise, complicated by the politics of territorial Protestant powers, especially in northern Europe. The Catholic Church could no longer exercise direct influence in the politics and justice-systems of lands which officially adopted Protestantism. Thus war (theFrench Wars of Religion, theThirty Years War), massacre (theSt. Bartholomew's Day massacre) and the missional[29]and propaganda work (by theSacra congregatio de propaganda fide)[30]of theCounter-Reformationcame to play larger roles in these circumstances, and theRoman lawtype of a "judicial" approach to heresy represented by the Inquisition became less important overall.Spanish Inquisition[edit]Main articles:Spanish InquisitionandToms de Torquemada

Pedro Berruguete,Saint Dominic Presides over an Auto da Fe(c. 1495).[31]Many artistic representations depict torture andburning at the stakeas occurring during theauto-da-f(Portuguese for "Act of Faith").Portugal and Spain in the late Middle Ages consisted largely of multicultural territories of Muslim and Jewish influence, reconquered fromIslamic control, and the new Christian authorities could not assume that all their subjects would suddenly become and remain orthodox Roman Catholics. So the Inquisition inIberia, in the lands of theReconquistacounties and kingdoms likeLeon,CastileandAragon, had a special socio-political basis as well as more fundamental religious motives.In some parts of Spain towards the end of the 14th century, there was a wave of violentanti-Judaism, encouraged by the preaching ofFerrand Martinez,ArchdeaconofEcija. In thepogromsof June 1391 in Seville, hundreds of Jews were killed, and thesynagoguewas completely destroyed. The number of people killed was also high in other cities, such asCrdoba,Valenciaand Barcelona.[32]One of the consequences of thesepogromswas 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 asconversosorNew Christians.KingFerdinand II of Aragonand QueenIsabella I of Castileestablished theSpanish Inquisitionin 1478. In contrast to the previous inquisitions, it operated completely under royal Christian authority, though staffed by clergy and orders, and independently of theHoly See. It operated in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories, which included theCanary Islands, theSpanish Netherlands, theKingdom of Naples, and all Spanish possessions in North, Central, and South America. It primarily targeted forced converts from Islam (Moriscos,Conversosandsecret Moors) and fromJudaism(Conversos,Crypto-JewsandMarranos) both groups still resided in Spain after the end of theIslamic 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.[clarification needed]Henry Kamenhas written of myths that exaggerate the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition.[35]Inquisition in the Spanish overseas empire[edit]See also:Mexican InquisitionandPeruvian InquisitionIn the Americas, King Philip II set up three tribunals (each formally titledTribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicin) in 1569, one inMexico, Cartagena de Indias (in modern day Colombia) andPeru. The Mexican office administeredMexico(central and southeastern Mexico),Nueva Galicia(northern and western Mexico), theAudienciasofGuatemala(Guatemala, Chiapas, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica), and theSpanish East Indies. ThePeruvian Inquisition, based in Lima, administered all the Spanish territories in South America andPanama.[citation needed]Portuguese Inquisition[edit]Main article:Portuguese Inquisition

A copper engraving from 1685: "Die Inquisition in Portugall"The Portuguese Inquisition formally started inPortugalin 1536 at the request of theKing of Portugal,Joo III.Manuel Ihad askedPope Leo Xfor the installation of the Inquisition in 1515, but only after his death (1521) didPope Paul IIIacquiesce. At its head stood aGrande Inquisidor, or General Inquisitor, named by the Pope but selected by the Crown, and always from within theroyal family.[citation needed]The Portuguese Inquisition principally targeted theSephardic Jews, whom the state forced to convert to Christianity. Spain hadexpelledits Sephardic population in 1492; after 1492 many of these Spanish Jews left Spain for Portugal, but eventually were targeted there as well.The Portuguese Inquisition held its firstauto-da-fin 1540. The Portuguese inquisitors mostly targeted theJewishNew Christians(i.e.conversosormarranos). The Portuguese Inquisition expanded its scope of operations from Portugal to Portugal's colonial possessions, includingBrazil,Cape Verde, andGoa, where it continued as a religious court, investigating and trying cases of breaches of the tenets of orthodox Roman Catholicism until 1821. KingJoo III(reigned 152157) extended the activity of the courts to covercensorship,divination,witchcraftandbigamy. Originally oriented for a religious action, the Inquisition exerted an influence over almost every aspect of Portuguese society: political, cultural and social.TheGoa Inquisition, an inquisition largely aimed at Catholic converts fromHinduismorIslamwho were thought to have returned to their original ways, started inGoain 1560. In addition, the Inquisition prosecuted non-converts who broke prohibitions against the observance ofHinduor Muslim rites or interfered with Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to Catholicism.[7]Aleixo Dias Falco and Francisco Marques set it up in the palace of theSabaioAdil Khan.According toHenry Charles Lea,[36]between 1540 and 1794, tribunals in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and vora resulted in the burning of 1,175 persons, the burning of another 633 in effigy, and the penancing of 29,590. But documentation of 15 out of 689[37]autos-da-f has disappeared, so these numbers may slightly understate the activity.Roman Inquisition[edit]Main article:Roman InquisitionIn 1542Pope Paul IIIestablished the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition as a permanent congregation staffed withcardinalsand other officials. It had the tasks of maintaining and defending the integrity of the faith and of examining and proscribing errors and false doctrines; it thus became the supervisory body of local Inquisitions.[38]Arguably the most famous case tried by the Roman Inquisition involvedGalileo Galileiin 1633.The penances and sentences for those who confessed or were found guilty were pronounced together in a public ceremony at the end of all the processes. This was thesermo generalisorauto-da-f.[39]Penances(not matters for the civil authorities) might consist of a pilgrimage, a public scourging, a fine, or the wearing of a cross. The wearing of two tongues of red or other brightly colored cloth, sewn onto an outer garment in an "X" pattern, marked those who were under investigation. The penalties in serious cases were confiscation of property to the inquisition or imprisonment. This led to the possibility of false charges over confiscation with those over a certain income, particularly richmaranos. Following theFrench invasionof 1798, the new authorities sent 3,000 chests containing over 100,000 Inquisition documents to France from Rome.Ending of the Inquisition in the 19th and 20th centuries[edit]Thewars of independenceof the former Spanish colonies in the Americas concluded with the abolition of the Inquisition in every quarter ofHispanic Americabetween 1813 and 1825.In Portugal, in the wake of theLiberal Revolution of 1820, the "General Extraordinary and ConstituentCourtsof the Portuguese Nation" abolished the Portuguese inquisition in 1821.The last execution of the Inquisition was in Spain in 1826.[40]This was the execution bygarrotingof the school teacherCayetano Ripollfor purportedly teachingDeismin his school.[40]In Spain the practices of the Inquisition were finally outlawed in 1834.[citation needed]In Italy, after the restoration of the Pope as the ruler of thePapal Statesin 1814, the activity of the Papal States Inquisition continued on until the mid-19th century, notably in the well-publicisedMortara Affair(18581870). In 1908 the name of the Congregation became "The Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office", which in 1965 further changed to "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith", as retained to the present day.Statistics[edit]Beginning in the 19th century, historians have gradually compiled statistics drawn from the surviving court records, from which estimates have been calculated by adjusting the recorded number of convictions by the average rate of document loss for each time period. Gustav Henningsen and Jaime Contreras studied the records of the Spanish Inquisition, which list 44,674 cases of which 826 resulted in executionsin personand 778in effigy(i.e. a straw dummy was burned in place of the person).[41]William Monter estimated there were 1000 executions between 15301630 and 250 between 16301730.[42]Jean-Pierre Dedieustudied the records of Toledo's tribunal, which put 12,000 people on trial.[43]For the period prior to 1530, Henry Kamen estimated there were about 2,000 executions in all of Spain's tribunals.[44]Italian Renaissance history professor and Inquisition expertCarlo Ginzburghad his doubts about using statistics to reach a judgment about the period. In many cases, we dont have the evidence, the evidence has been lost, said Ginzburg.[45]Alternative Views[edit]Some authors, such asDavid Plaisted, have contended that the number of executions could have reached tens of millions, citing protestant sources such as Dowling's "History of Romanism".[46]In the seventeenth century, German scholarJohann Albrecht Bengel, and Spanish HistorianJuan Antonio Llorente, indicated that they believed the executions of the inquisition reached into the millions.[47][48]This was a somewhat common viewpoint in the mid 1800's as even famous French author, Victor Hugo, believed these numbers stating, "Yes, they tried to rehabilitate the Inquisition, the Inquisition which made perish in the flames five million men!"[49]Modern historians dispute these claims, however, citing systematic studies of the actual court transcripts and other records, as well as the fact that any figure reaching the tens of millions would be highly unlikely considering population sizes and the small number of tribunals presumed to be in operation at any given point in time.[50]

x----------------------xReference: By Michael O'Loughlin; National reporter;September 1, 2014

http://theweek.com/articles/466772/10-secrets-vatican-exposedhttp://www.geni.com/projects/Archive-of-the-Inquisition/12658