Has there ever been a formal, official statement from the Pope and the highest ruling bodies of the Catholic Church that :
1)the Inquisition , and
2)the wars of the Crusades
were terrrible perversions of true Christian faith, and were mistakes that must never be repeated.?
my factual question above is background for a potential GD thread:
I ask because of a conversation I had recently, about Islamic violence, and how it differs from western extremism. I didnt quite know how to respond. Someone said that in Islam, jihadist war is one of the 5 basic tenets of the religion, and can never be totally removed. Whereas Christian violence over the centuries was a by-product, not a basic tenet, of Christian religion, which was removed as western religion progressed into the modern age. No official, organized church doctrine today still calls for military crusades to cleanse the Holy Land of infidels. Or calls for burning heretics at the stake. And no church officials today are proud of the violence that their ancestors carried out.
But Islam still formally declares jihad as one of its vital, defining elements.So attempts to progressively join the modern world are never going to succeed in totally removing warfare from Islam. Even trying to re-define jihad (as a spiritual struggle, not a military one) will still leave the legacy of military jihad as a legitimate heritage to be proud of.
(oops, the GD rant was longer than the question. Lets just stick to the facts in this GQ thread.)
Both the Inquisition and the Crusades were large, complex historical events aimed at restoring and defending the Faith. The Crusades were intended to free the Holy Land from the grasp pf Muslim rulers who, in the Catholic Church’s eyes, had violently conquered it. The Inquisition was intended to root out heresy and deviation from true belief. The idea that, for instance, the first was a cynical attempt to violently impose Church rule on unoffending pagans and the other a way to mind-control others through threat of torture is simplistic. I seriously doubt if those at the time thought there was any need to apologize for either. And, while a present-day Catholic Church might abhor the excesses of both, wouldn’t feel the need to apologize for either of the m,ovements.
No.
The ‘Five Pillars’ of Islam are: (from Islam101.com)
Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad;
Establishment of the daily prayers;
Concern for and almsgiving to the needy;
Self-purification through fasting;
The pilgrimage to Makkah for those who are able.
In 2001 JPII apologized pretty profusely for a Pope for the sacking of Constantinople in 1204 in the Fourth Crusade - but this was to Orthodox Christians.
I think JPII went further than many Popes especially in relation to Judaism and Christian ecumenical matters - he was no conservative in these matters. But I am going to say he never really apologized to Muslims for the Crusades.
In fact, I find myself in almost total agreement with this bomb thrower on this point (FTR I disagree with virtually everyway he puts everything else and I would pay him no mind except when he speaks of rightwing Catholic Theology, but even a broken clock is right twice a day):
------QUOTE---------------------
*There is no doubt that the belief that Pope John Paul II apologized for the Crusades is widespread. When he died, the Washington Post reminded its readers “during his long reign, Pope John Paul II apologized to Muslims for the Crusades, to Jews for anti-Semitism, to Orthodox Christians for the sacking of Constantinople, to Italians for the Vatican’s associations with the Mafia and to scientists for the persecution of Galileo.”
However, John Paul II never actually apologized for the Crusades. The closest he came was on March 12, 2000, the “Day of Pardon.”
During his homily he said: “We cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken toward the followers of other religions.”
This is hardly a clear apology for the Crusades. *
Isn’t this more than a little absurd? Apologizing for something that happened 800+ years ago? Do muslims apologize for the massacres perpetrated by Muhammed?
