Serie A brev nr 15

Magazine Overview

This issue of BREVCIRKELN, identified as SERIE A, BREV NR 15, focuses on the historical institution of the Inquisition, with the cover headline proclaiming "INKVISITIONEN - DJÄVULENS TRIUMF" (The Inquisition - Devil's Triumph), authored by Anna-Lisa Helle.

The Inquisition: A Stain on Church History

The article begins by describing the Inquisition as a "terrible stain on Church history," lamenting that while its existence is known, its origins and the reasons for its rise are often overlooked. The author argues that the Church itself, being the dominant force, largely shaped the "spirit of the age" that allowed such cruelty to flourish, contradicting the mild and loving teachings of Christ. A quote from Matthew 12:35 is used to illustrate this point: "A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart."

The Inquisition, established by Popes Gregorius IX and Innocentius IV, found its theoretical justification from 13th-century theologians who, with great sophistry, even used Jesus as an authority for burning heretics. Heretics, or 'Katarer,' were defined as opposition movements against the Pope's temporal power, and their followers were considered to have progressed spiritually.

Theologians' Madness with the Bible in Hand

Despite the Pope calling himself 'Vicarius Christi' (Vicar of Christ), no voice of reason or true love in Europe dared to oppose the widespread murder and persecution. Those who did not share the prevailing madness were too terrified to speak out against the dictatorship, as the court's task was to identify and punish so-called 'heretics' and 'apostates.' The Church practically branded anyone who showed genuine religious striving or reacted against its abuse of power as such.

Examining the Inquisition

The article notes that no institution within the Roman Catholic Church has received such contradictory judgments as the Inquisition, suggesting it is necessary to study it more closely. It presents two interpretations: either the Inquisition was a natural product of medieval cultural conditions, a means of cooperation between spiritual and secular justice, justifiable as the only effective way to save Christian society, though flawed from a higher cultural and absolute love perspective. Or, it is seen as a doctrinally correct and historically blessed institution that could be used again when circumstances permit.

The Doctrinal Basis of the Inquisition

The fundamental belief underpinning the Inquisition was the Church's right and duty to determine the faith and conduct of its members and to protect them from 'heresy.' Early Church Fathers, in the first four centuries, advocated for spiritual means only. However, Christian emperors, seeking to strengthen the empire's unity through a unified Church, soon sought to suppress sects like the Manichaeans using force, following pagan traditions. The Donatists, who desired a pure Church and believed sacraments administered by a priest who had committed mortal sin were invalid, were also targeted.

The Evolution of Punishment for Heresy

Augustinus's influence led to the Church's right to use force, though not capital punishment, to convert heretics. This laid the groundwork for medieval developments. However, it was a long way to a specific institution for identifying and judging heretics. During the theological disputes of the 9th century, it was generally understood that death was not the penalty for dissent; internment in monasteries was considered sufficient punishment.

A new phase began with Pope Gregorius VII's assertion of the Church's supremacy over state power, where any deviation in doctrine was considered a crime against society. Gregorius believed the Roman Church was infallible. With the widespread presence of Cathars from the 11th century, rulers and people alike saw these heretics as enemies of society and sought to eliminate them. The practice of burning them alive likely stemmed from popular beliefs about hell.

The First Known Heretic Burning in the Middle Ages

The first known heretic burning in the Middle Ages occurred in Orléans in 1022, ignited by King Robert and a fanatical mob. Soon, burning Cathars became a common occurrence in France. The Church initially remained aloof or directly opposed this, maintaining excommunication and internment as the sole punishments.

However, influenced by Augustinus, this stance officially changed at the Third Lateran Council in 1179. It was decreed that if spiritual leaders did not assist, secular punishments should be used to instill healthy fear. Among these, property confiscation was introduced, but not yet the death penalty. As the spread of Catharism could not be halted, the Church rapidly escalated its measures to maintain power.

In 1184, Pope Lucius III established a true Inquisition tribunal, tasking bishops with their assistants to search for heretics in their dioceses, arrest them, and investigate them. Simultaneously, an agreement was made with Frederick Barbarossa in Verona, obligating the Church to extradite all investigated heretics to secular authorities for punishment, in return for the Emperor's commitment to punish them.

The Inquisition's Methods and Formalization

This marked the characteristic form of the Inquisition: the Church sought to use all available brutal means against heretics while avoiding formal responsibility for bloodshed by handing them over to secular power. This arrangement, along with the episcopal Inquisition's organization, was fully implemented by Innocentius III at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. Civil authorities were compelled, under threat of the harshest ecclesiastical ban, to execute the secular punishments for those condemned as heretics by the Church.

Innocentius III was not shy about his authority, stating, "The Pope is indeed less than God, but greater than a man." He asserted that the spiritual sword was wielded by the Pope, and the secular sword at his command, which he likely did with great pleasure.

Gregorius IX, who fought hard for even greater papal power, accepted the pyre as the Church's demand at the Synod of Toulouse in 1229. Formally, the Inquisition requested that blood not be shed in each case. However, he did not stop there. When bishops proved not particularly eager as inquisitors, the Pope established a new form of Inquisition alongside the existing episcopal one: the Holy Office, Sanctum Officium, the still-official name for the Roman Inquisition.

From 1232 onwards, Gregorius entrusted monks, primarily from the Dominican Order, with forming special Inquisition tribunals that answered only to the Pope. These tribunals were granted the highest ecclesiastical privileges, including crusader indulgences, and extensive authority to search everywhere and, when necessary, to apprehend heretics with the help of armed servants. Soon, almost everyone who threatened the Church's power and glory was counted among them. The inquisitors were appointed by the Pope himself, based on proposals from the heads of the monastic orders.

The Inquisition's Procedural Secrecy and Torture

With the establishment of this monk-papal Inquisition, legal proceedings were made so secret and with such a degree of witness testimony that the accused was rendered almost without rights. The culmination came when Innocentius IV officially sanctioned torture in 1252 as a means to extract truth, and eventually even allowed torture of witnesses. The handing over of heretics to secular authorities was accompanied by solemn ceremonies and a public address, known by the Spanish inquisitor as an 'Auto de Fé' (Act of Faith), hence the later name 'Autodafe.'

The Witch Hunts

The persecution of heretics was severe, but a true reign of terror began with the witch trials. As these are inextricably linked to the Inquisition and reveal the nature of the highest powers within the Church at that time, some important facts must be pointed out, however terrifying.

Viktor Rydberg, in "Medeltidens Magi" (Magic of the Middle Ages), is quoted regarding the background of witchcraft and the creation of the abhorrent "Hexenhammer" (Hammer of Witches). The article praises his richly informative research into religious history.

Dualistic Worldview and Magic

Religious belief has generally divided the world and humanity between two absolute powers: good and evil, distinguishing between two types of magic: white and black. This was also the case in the Christian Middle Ages.

Ancient Greeks, however, did not have this distinction. For them, the world was a whole, morally and physically. Magic was nothing more than the art of exploring and utilizing the secret powers within this harmonious cosmos. The practitioner, unlikely to derive power from an evil source, was considered a favorite of the gods and equal to heroes.

The Rise of Dualism in Christianity

Greek magical thinking was increasingly superseded by philosophy, skepticism, and rational inquiry. It wasn't until after the time of Alexander the Great, through closer contact between Europe and Asia, that this worldview began to reassert itself, culminating in the dualistic religious form that took possession of the West under the name of Christianity.

When Christianity spread among the Germans and Slavs, their gods were transformed into devils, and their festivals were transferred to saints. Pope Gregorius the Great ordained that pagan festivals should gradually be transformed into Christian ones, and that in many respects they should be emulated. During the time of Bonifacius, there were Christian priests in Germany who simultaneously sacrificed to Thor and baptized in Jesus' name. A significant influence on Christianity's rapid spread was Gregorius's maxim that one should not be too picky about proselytes. Simple confirmation was enough to attend services and be buried within the churchyard walls. Valhalla's gates were open only to the pagan who showed virtue and bravery, but for the Christian proselyte, entering the kingdom of heaven was much easier. What the Church primarily demanded were donations to the congregation, pilgrimages, recitation of Latin prayers, and adherence to external forms.

The Church did not deny the existence of things that were objects of belief but treated them according to its dualistic worldview, elevating some to the sacred and debasing others to the demonic. For example, the Church transformed the elemental spirits that Germans and Celts believed in from benevolent or morally neutral nature beings into fallen angels, envious of humanity's inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. While previously a seeker could freely accept or reject the existence of such beings, for Christians, believing in them became a matter of salvation.

No superstitious belief was too crude to receive the Church's blessing; the cruder it was, the more eagerly it seemed to be embraced. Augustinus declared it "insolent" to doubt the existence of fauns, sylvans, and other demonic beings who, in his opinion, lured women for sexual intercourse. Any tradition from pagan times that the Church had not transformed and made its own was relegated to the realm of devil worship. Any act attributed to supernatural workings, if not performed by a Christian priest or in Jesus' name, was considered black magic.

Ultimately, the possibility of an immediate communion between the devil and humanity was elevated to a tenet of faith. According to this belief, the devil grants his followers power over nature. Demons such as 'incubi' and 'succubi' seek and find carnal intercourse with humans.

The Link Between Heresy and Witchcraft

Reading the accusations leveled against the first Christian sects, one learns that the party elevated to "orthodox" by the Council of Nicaea accused Arians, Gnostics, Marcionites, and others of devil worship, of pacts with Satan, and of sorcery. This already reveals the association of heresy with sorcery, a formidable weapon against dissenters that the medieval Church acquired. This association is not merely an expression of malice and theological hatred but the natural consequence of a dualistic worldview, the direct fruit of devil worship.

It took a long time for the festivals that occurred in European nature religions to be eradicated or transformed into Christian forms. In developed nature religions, the worship of the sun and moon was paramount. Among Germans, Celts, and Slavs, as well as among Hebrews and Phoenicians, these light deities were celebrated with bonfires, sacrifices, and feasts on mountains and in groves, especially during the spring equinox (Easter), the beginning of May (Walpurgis Night), and the summer solstice (Midsummer Night). Traces of these customs still exist, though their original meaning has been lost. It can be safely assumed that they first survived openly and then secretly for a long time, while spiritual and secular authorities attempted to eradicate them.

When these practices finally ceased or transitioned into what the Church considered harmless folk customs, the memory of mountain and grove festivals must have been passed down from generation to generation. The belief that these practices continued and that people involved in magical arts, those who possessed the wisdom of ancient seers, vala, and druids, participated in them, was close at hand. The idea of the witches' sabbath, believed to be celebrated on the night of May 1st, and the witches' ride to Blåkulla, likely has this historical anchoring.

The Church's Embrace of Witchcraft Accusations

Gradually, the Church began to establish the connection between heresy and witchcraft, asserting that all heretics should be considered subjects of the devil and initiated into witchcraft, even if not all witch masters and witches were heretics. The Church, feeling strongly threatened by several newly emerging sects, resorted to all means to maintain its power. Everywhere, the power and influence of the devil were seen, not God's. The bloody and terrifying laws and the dictatorial social order were declared divine by the authorities.

The French historian Michelet suggests that from the 13th to the 15th century, after the Waldensians (who refused military service and rejected the Roman Church's sacramental doctrine) and the Albigensians (who advocated an ascetic ideal in sharp contrast to the worldly papal church) were eradicated in France, and the lower classes were reduced to serfdom, a religion of despair, a true "Satanic cult," arose. According to his view, the witches' sabbath was factually based on nocturnal gatherings where thousands of lost souls, driven to madness by superstition, misery, and oppression, gathered to praise and invoke the devil. However, there is no irrefutable historical fact that such gatherings took place.

The Fear of the Devil and His Instruments

The fear of the devil and his instruments constantly fueled the Church's highest authority. An inquisitor writes, "Let the judges know that sorcerers, witches, and conjurers are almost all Waldensians. All Waldensians, by profession, essentially and formally, are devil conjurers, and although not all conjurers are Waldensians, conjuring and Waldensianism often go together."

The dualistic worldview matured more and more into the terrifying crisis that erupted in the 15th century. This crisis was preceded by the Templar trials and several notorious, but local, witchcraft trials.

Pope Innocentius VIII and the Malleus Maleficarum

Pope Innocentius VIII, a weak and utterly immoral pope, presided over a period described as chaotic. He bore the responsibility for history's most dreadful invention. On December 5, 1484, his papal bull, 'Summis desiderantes affectibus,' was issued. This bull, along with the 'Malleus Maleficarum' (Hammer of Witches) written by the monk and inquisitor Sprenger, became the culmination of evil. Hell was no longer an imaginary realm but was established in its full reality on Earth, "unashamedly in God's name."

The bull, written in extremely barbaric Latin, has a content so terrifying that the reader should despair. It is noteworthy that Innocentius names "his beloved sons, the theology professors Henrik Institor and Jakob Sprenger" as inquisitors with unlimited power over the poor souls under the Church's dictatorship. The inquisitors and their assistants were granted unrestricted rights over life and death and were urged to carry out their duties with zeal and severity.

The bull contained no further instructions on how to conduct witch trials; the task of establishing a firm norm for investigation was left to the "Hammer of Witches." Since this book became the legal advisor followed in all countries, even Protestant ones, until the 18th century, it is important to provide an overview of its content. The spirit of the age can hardly be characterized better.

Excerpts from the Malleus Maleficarum

To give the reader a clearer understanding of the true diabolical blindness and delusion that characterizes this terrifying book, the following excerpt from the "Hammer of Witches" is presented verbatim. Page 223:

"Of all women whom we / inquisitors, Sprenger et consortes / have caused to be burned, few have voluntarily caused harm through witchcraft. Usually, they have been forced to do so by the devil. After they have confessed everything (on the rack), they usually try to take their own lives before being taken to the stake... The devil instills this decision in them, fearing that they will find grace with God through repentance and confession. If he fails to prevent them from killing themselves, he often understands that he can prevent them from reaching grace in another way, by striking them with madness, insanity, or sudden death!"

Regarding legal proceedings and their initiation, the "Hammer of Witches" first states that an investigation can begin without prior accusation and based solely on rumor, that witches are present in a certain locality. For in such a soul-endangering matter, it is the duty of the judge not to await an informant or accuser but to investigate ex officio.

When an inquisitor arrives in a city or village, he shall, by means of proclamations, posted on church and town hall doors under threat of excommunication and secular punishment, urge everyone to report persons suspected of anything and rumored to be involved in witchcraft. Informants, if the inquisitor deems it appropriate, can be rewarded with the Church's blessing and money. For informants who wish to remain anonymous, a box with a slot on the lid should be set up in the church...

Two or three witnesses are sufficient to convict. If they do not reach this number, the judge shall seek them out and compel them to tell the truth under oath. He is, however, entitled to examine the witnesses before the actual interrogation.

Regarding the conditions for appearing as a witness, the "Hammer of Witches" states that "excommunicated, accomplices, dishonored, runaway lustful servants are, when it comes to matters of faith, credible witnesses." A witch may testify against a witch, a wife against her husband, a husband against his wife, a child against parents, and so on. But if the testimony of accomplices or relatives is in favor of the accused, it is disregarded, for "blood is thicker than water!!"

The "Hammer of Witches" permits the accused to have a defender, but adds: "If the defender defends his client suspected of heresy too zealously, it is right and proper that he be regarded as more criminal than the witch master or witch herself, as being more dangerous than a witch master. Suspicion against him should increase, just as he acts eagerly in his defense."

However, the investigation can be difficult enough without being made more so by a skilled defender. To deceive and ensnare the accused, the "Hammer of Witches" advises a judge to remember the Apostle's words: "When I was weak, you captured me with cunning." The "Hammer of Witches" provides the judge with "five honest and apostolic tricks." One of them consists of mixing into the transcript of the protocol, which is given to the defender, a multitude of facts that did not occur during the investigation, and mixing up the names of witnesses. "Thereby the accused and the defenders can become so confused that they do not know at all who said what or what was said."

Sprenger's work thoroughly describes the treatment an accused person has to endure. Before the interrogation, the accused shall be laid on the rack to soften their mind for confession. Some would rather have their limbs torn apart than confess guilt: "Such are 'the worst witches,' and their steadfastness is explained by the fact that 'the devil makes them hard against torture.'" Others, who were less faithful to him, he abandons, and they are easily brought to confession.

"If a confession cannot be extorted from the witch on the first day of torture," the "Hammer of Witches" states verbatim, "one continues with torture on the second and third day. The law indeed forbids repeating the torture, but one may continue... For that reason, the judge shall use the following formula: 'We decree that the torture shall continue with you tomorrow – not be repeated!'"

On the second day, the torture instruments shall be shown to the accused, and a present priest shall read the following incantation: "I adjure you N.N., in the name of the Holy Trinity, by the tears of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, by the tears of all God's saints and chosen ones shed over the world... that you, if you are innocent, shall immediately shed copious tears, but if you are guilty, no tears at all. In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Rarely does the thus adjured person cry. But if they do, the judge must ensure that it is not saliva or any other liquid that the witch has in her eyes. The witch shall be brought backwards into the courtroom so that the judge may see her before she sees him. Otherwise, she can bewitch him and move him to criminal pity. Before the witness testimony, the accused shall be stripped naked and shaved all over the body by the executioner. All limbs shall be carefully examined. If any mark is found on them, it is because the devil often marks his own. Furthermore, it shall be tested with needle pricks whether any point on the body is insensitive, for this is a sure sign of a witch. The absence of such a sign, however, proves innocence.

If the witch cannot be made to confess by any means, the judge shall take her to a remote prison. The jailer shall pretend to go on a journey. Some friends and honest women shall persuade the prisoner to promise to help her escape if she will only teach them some of her arts. In this way, the author of the "Hammer of Witches" notes, "many have been ensnared by us."

Protestant Theologians and Witch Burning

Protestant theologians also burned people, just like the Catholics. Luther and the first reformers did not oppose this but promoted and increased the worship of the devil. How far Luther was "from Christ" can be understood when one learns his reaction: during the Peasants' Revolt in Germany, as described by A. Englesson in his fine and honest book "Storm Warning on the 'Place,'" when they finally turned against the authorities due to their unbearable living conditions, they were flogged and had their tongues pulled out with red-hot tongs. Of two who were burned, chronicles state: "They lived long and called on God with all their hearts; it was pitiable to hear them." But from Luther came not a word of compassion or comfort. They were outside the bounds. They had dared to attempt to gain a different position in society, a crime that came closest to the greatest offense of harboring a dissenting opinion about God.

In The Hague, there is a museum full of torture devices that freeze the blood. If the entire hell were to devise means to torture the human body to the utmost in one night, it is hard to imagine that anything could be added. All organs of the body and both sexes' bodies have been meticulously considered. Cruelty has nothing more to learn. One turns away in horror, and the thought crosses one's mind: these are the fruits of faith. All these devilish toys were invented during prayer and fasting. They were invented so that Christians could correct each other regarding doctrines about which Jesus of Nazareth never spoke."

Papal Corruption and Moral Decay

In Luther's "Table Talk," one can see how both religious factions accused each other of devilry. Terrified, for instance, by a dream or a strange noise at night, people lived in such anguish that it took little to cause them to seek out a priest to confess their fear. They were told that the dream or noise was caused by the devil, to whom they had fallen, because they had abandoned the new doctrine. On the other hand, they were told that these were attempts to frighten them because they had abandoned Papism. In either case, the devil was involved in the game.

The Pope's Power and Influence

"He was in the cities of the knights, in the palaces of the great, on every page of the Bible, in the churches, in the town hall, in the chambers of legal scholars, in the huts, stables, and barns, everywhere."

"The faith had the effect that all rational knowledge disappeared, that all sound philosophy was banned, that the morality of the people was poisoned, and humanity was crushed in a vortex of madness, godlessness, and bestiality. All social classes were carried away by this vortex. The reins of nature and revelation were no longer in human hands. The powers of hell and darkness, born of a sick imagination, ruled the earth." - Horst: Demonomania.

Swedish Cases of Persecution

Even in Sweden, terrible atrocities were committed by priests. Particularly outrageous is the injustice of the judicial murder of our great naturalist Carl von Linné's Norwegian ancestress.

Linné's maternal grandfather, the parish priest in Visseltofta and Verum in Skåne, Jörgen Simonsen Schée, was born in Stavanger in 1612 and, at the age of ten, witnessed his mother, Johanne Pedersdotter, wife of Captain-Vicar Simon Jacobsen Schée of Stavanger Cathedral, being burned alive as a supposed witch, after being accused by a priest's wife in the city.

There is not space here to go into all the details of this judicial murder, which Linné likely knew about but did not mention in his genealogical records. It should be noted that Johanne was not condemned to the pyre as a so-called "wise woman" or "healer," which would have been "fitting," as a Linné scholar once put it. Everything indicates that the horrific pyre, with its suffocating smoke, was erected due to human malice and evil, without any actual basis for the accusation of witchcraft.

The young woman denied the terrible accusations and offered to leave the country with her children if she were acquitted, but her request was denied. And on a late September day in 1622, after the most brutal torture, she was executed, leaving behind a husband and four minor children, the eldest of whom, as mentioned, later became a priest in Skåne and Linné's maternal grandfather.

Scale of Persecution and Punishments

It is difficult to determine how many people fell victim to the theologians' sadism, but according to investigations in various archives, the victims numbered in the millions. It is likely that about 1 in 10 condemned were burned. More common was life imprisonment, which in the dungeons of those times was hardly less barbaric. These prisons were truly graves for living people. Added to this was perhaps the most common punishment: confiscation of property, which affected all heretics, not just the living but also the long deceased, so that the Church could increase not only its own wealth but also that of the state. This explains the many Inquisition processes against the deceased.

No Age Spared

Perhaps what is hardest to forget and forgive is that no age was spared. Children were taken to the pyre with their mothers. And how the relatives must have felt after their loved ones had died in such a heinous manner can hardly be imagined...

A silent, terrifying dread seized every congregation when the announcement on the church door proclaimed the arrival of the inquisitor. All work stopped, and all evil desires awoke. Anyone who had an enemy or was envied considered themselves lost beforehand. It was better to strike first than to be struck. In matters of accusations and courts, they had been open and active almost constantly until they were overwhelmed with such matters. "After witches were well burned in one place," writes a 17th-century author, "more arose, the more people were burned."

It was very common to accuse one's neighbor out of greed. As an example from the Scottish witchcraft trials, it can be mentioned that a man named Hopkins confessed to having accused two hundred (200) women and was rewarded by the judge with 20 shillings for each! He only confessed this after being convinced of murder and sentenced to the gallows.

One judge, Balthasar Voss in Fulda, Germany, had seven hundred (700) witches and sorcerers burned within about twenty years. Another judge, Remigius, at the end of the 16th century, had nine hundred (900) witches burned in approximately the same period, whom he ultimately...

The Devil's Work and Heresy

...himself, accused of heresy, had to follow to the pyre. But Sprenger also assures that "the greatest of all heresies is to not believe in the work of witches!"

Perhaps it is unnecessary to elaborate further from the terrifying book. What has been described is sufficient to show how far humans can stray into madness when driven by greed, lust for power, and cruelty. It is given that these feelings primarily afflict the rulers themselves; their history is also a single "study in red," i.e., in sex and blood orgies.

The Pope Known for His Immorality

The Pope who is perhaps best known for his immense desire for splendor and his shameless sensuality is Rodrigo de Borgia, who, through simony and all sorts of villainy, managed to buy the papal throne in 1492. During his reign, it fell into deepest decline. His papal mission was primarily to acquire wealth and high honors for his children, his son Cesare Borgia, and his scandalously infamous daughter Lucretia, who were the fruits of his sinful intercourse with the Roman woman Vanozza Catanei. Twice during his absence, he handed over the reins of government to Lucretia!

This Pope became most famous for his art of poisoning, which resulted in numerous murders. Those who dared to oppose his power were killed. He himself died of a poison intended for a cardinal. Savonarola, who attacked him for his immorality, was excommunicated and burned in Florence in 1498. Of course, we are tempted to add.

Innocentius X and His Family Life

Truly gruesome family life seems to have occurred with Innocentius X, who was the head of the Church in the 17th century. He was completely dominated by his sister-in-law, Olimpia Maidalchini, "one of the most terrifying women of that era." - Kühner.

Hardly had the Pope breathed his last sigh when Olimpia stormed into the death chamber, pulled out two chests from under the bed filled with gold, and had them transported away. She dragged away everything of value, leaving only a shroud and a blanket for the dead Pope. The corpse lay on a bier in St. Peter's Church for three days, after which it was placed in a tool shed. One of the workers voluntarily sat to guard the corpse at night to protect it from rats.

The Macabre "Synod of the Corpse"

Further back in time, it appears that the papal throne was occupied by mentally ill individuals. Stephanus VI, for example, who reigned, thank God, only from 896-897, had the previous Pope, Formosus, who had been dead for nine months, exhumed at the macabre "Synod of the Corpse," dressed in papal robes, placed on a throne, and put on trial! The fingers of the hand with which he had given blessings during his lifetime were cut off. His ordinations were declared invalid, and the corpse was thrown into the Tiber. A few months later, Formosus's supporters and the enraged mob dragged Stephanus to prison, where he was strangled.

Pope Johannes XII's Scandalous Reign

Johannes XII was so severely mistreated by a deceived husband that he died from his injuries in 964. His immoral life was too much even for the papal church, and he was deposed at an imperial synod in St. Peter's Church. His time is described by historians as the period of the papacy's deepest decline, which is saying a lot! "The Lateran became a brothel." It is this Pope who is said to have performed diaconate ordinations in a stable and given liturgical vessels to loose women.

The Holy Life of the Clergy?

One can thus conclude that life among the "holy" seems to have been far from godly and was highly worldly and sensual.

Many popes who passed through the Vatican over the centuries, unlike those mentioned here, were good and decent people, well-educated, and with many solid qualities, often with a pronounced sense for organizational work. But they all had one peculiar demand in common, which seems most inexplicable to those who know human frailty: the demand to be considered infallible. This truly insane pride, this terrifying blasphemy, culminated in 1870 with the dogma of papal infallibility, which was then proclaimed. Those who did not accept this dogma were excommunicated.

Compare this with the Master's absolutely opposite, fine, and unpretentious attitude to life: "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." (Mark 10:18).

The dictatorial power that the Catholic papal church seeks to uphold has, interestingly enough, had its complete equivalent in the absolute power and authority of the Dalai Lama in Tibet over the Buddhist world. Here, the same degeneracy has been observed. The gentle and humane spirit of Buddha has turned into the worship of humans and a self-serving priestly hierarchy.

Similarities Between Tibetan and Catholic Cults

The similarity or correspondence between the Tibetan cult and the Catholic Church has struck all observers as highly surprising. It has made different impressions on Catholic missionaries who visited the country. One returned to the West with the highest praise, stating that "in the interior of High Asia, the devil himself has created a distorted image of the holy Church." Others believed that the Tibetans were already half-Christian and could easily be converted to the only saving faith.

Father Andrada, writing in the 16th century, states: "The priests of Tibet sing their corals just like us, their temples resemble our churches, only decorated in an even more precious way. They also know confession and holy water, they conduct processions and drive out devils!"

Father Hue, in the 19th century, has particularly vividly depicted the similarity between Rome and Tibet in all its details.

For example, the Tibetan prior's attire resembles that of a bishop. He wears a yellow mitre on his head, holds a long staff in his right hand in the shape of a cross, his shoulders are covered with a blue taffeta mantle, held together over the chest with a clasp, exactly like a pectoral cross.

Among other striking similarities, missionary [name illegible] lists: services with responses or alternating singing between priest and congregation, psalmodies, exorcisms, the censer hanging on five chains, the blessing of the lamb by placing the right hand on the head of the believer, the rosary or prayer beads, celibacy, the cult of saints, fasting, litanies, etc.

Furthermore, pilgrimages and a highly developed cult of relics, the use of bells during services, and above all, the monastic system and the firmly established hierarchy or priesthood. And just like in the West, those who enter a monastery take a vow of poverty and chastity. They renounce their civil name, their family, and their fatherland. For this, they become members of an omnipotent hierarchy with power and authority comparable to that of the Roman papal church.

The Meaning of Spiritual Leadership

After these shocking glimpses into the history of the Christian Church with its dictatorial leaders, one asks with concern and confusion: what is meant by spiritual leadership? To gain clarity on this concept, one must go back to the Master. What does he think about religious leadership? What does he communicate to his fellow disciples, the learners, those who could receive his words "in the spirit"?

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." - Matthew 20:25-26.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue are the historical abuses of power within religious institutions, particularly the Catholic Church, the methods of persecution and control employed by the Inquisition and witch trials, and the stark contrast between the actions of religious authorities and the teachings of Christ. The editorial stance is critical of religious dogma and institutional power, highlighting the hypocrisy and cruelty that can arise when spiritual authority is combined with temporal power. The article also draws parallels between the Catholic Church and Tibetan Buddhism, suggesting a universal tendency towards human worship and hierarchical structures that deviate from original spiritual teachings. The author advocates for humility, service, and adherence to Christ's original teachings as opposed to the power-driven machinations of religious institutions. The issue concludes with a call to remember the Master's emphasis on service and humility.