The Violence of the Vatican

In the year 380, Catholicism was made the official religion of the Roman Empire, saying:
We authorize... followers ...to assume the title of Catholic Christians; but as for the others, they shall be branded ...heretics. They will suffer ...the punishment of our authority which... we shall... inflict.

Over the next several centuries, the Catholic Church gained enormous power over all aspects of European life. According to Pope Gregory VII, the Roman Pontiff alone has the authority to make and depose kings, declare religious writings as valid or invalid, and make laws. Among other things, he asserted that the Roman Church has never (and will never) err, that kings should kiss the feet of the Pope and that the Pope himself is above the law, and can only be judged by God, himself. Pope Leo X famously said "It has served us well, this myth of Christ". They caused the majority of the population to become illiterate and ignorant, suppressing all forms of scholarship except for within the clergy. Book banning and burning was a common practice and the general populace was even prohibited from reading the Bible. The Vatican's methods for controlling the populace became a violent and bloody campaign for ultimate domination, eliminating anyone who disagreed with Church dogma.

Category:

Education

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• vatican
• catholic
• church
• inquisition
• torture
• cathari
• albisengians
• witch
• witchunt
• pope
• malleus
• malificarum
• crusade