Vatican: apology for the Inquisition?

As part of the preparation for the new millenium, the Holy Father is expected to pronounce a formal "mea culpa" for the past sins of Christianity. He said as much in 1994 in his statement on the coming of the third millenium, Tertio millenio adveniente. The formal statement--or apology--he intends to make is scheduled to be pronounced on Ash Wednesday in the Jubilee year.

Opening a symposium on the Inquisition in Rome at the end of October, Roger Cardinal Etchegaray said, "The Church cannot cross the threshold of the new millenium without pressing its children to purify themselves in repentance for their errors, infidelity, incoherence and slowness."

Vatican official, Father Georges Cottier, stressed that the process of examination was intended to establish the historical facts as far as possible. "It is not a matter of accusing the past," he said; one important consideration will be the mentality of the times, the historical context in which Christians lived their faith. But attention would be given to the underlying moral question behind the historical facts: how was it possible to justify violence in the name of the Gospel?

The Papal Inquisition was established in 1231 by Pope Gregory IX. The Spanish was authorized by Pope Sixtus IV in 1478, and was not permanently suppressed until 1834. The Roman Inquisition was established by Paul III in 1542, following growing alarm at the spread of Protestantism. There is no question that the Inquisition has been a favourite target of anti-Catholic propaganda over the centuries, and the numbers of people tried, tortured, and executed have sometimes been wildly exaggerated. Yet it seems clear that the long history of the Inquisition contained manifold sins against justice and charity, and that the amends offered by Pope John Paul II on Ash Wednesday, 2000, will be entirely proper. The Holy Father has said that requests for pardon are appropriate when the officers or faithful of the Church acted in ways inconsistent with the Gospel, thereby giving scandal rather than evangelical witness.