#ad extirpanda

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Not So Innocent

A Reflection on Torture, Power, and the Call to a Different Witness On May 15, 1252, Pope Innocent IV issued the bull Ad extirpanda, a decree that authorized the use of torture by civil authorities for the purpose of extracting confessions from those accused of heresy. The language of the document treated heresy as a kind of spiritual treason, comparable to the most serious civil crimes, and it…

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Not So Innocent

A Reflection on Torture, Power, and the Call to a Different Witness On May 15, 1252, Pope Innocent IV issued the bull Ad extirpanda, a decree that authorized the use of torture by civil authorities for the purpose of extracting confessions from those accused of heresy. The language of the document treated heresy as a kind of spiritual treason, comparable to the most serious civil crimes, and it…

Not So Innocent

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May 15, 1252: Pope Innocent IV authorizes use of torture in Inquisition

On May 15, 1252, Pope Innocent IV promulgated Ad extirpanda, a papal bull authorizing the use of torture by the Inquisition to obtain confessions from accused heretics. The Catholic Church had been conducting a widespread, though decentralized, inquisition since the late 12th century, seeking to eradicate groups that threatened the supremacy of the church. The main target of this action was a group called the Cathars, who opposed the priesthood, baptism, and communion, and allowed women equal access to spiritual leadership roles. In the 1230s, the Catholic hierarchy grew frustrated with the apparent inadequacy of the inquisition and began to centralize its process, attacking with renewed vigor the Cathars and another group called the Waldensians. Inquisitors sought a "full" confession, which included naming fellow "heretics". Ad extirpanda (sometimes rendered Ad exstirpanda) authorized torture for the purpose of extracting such a confession, so long as the torture did not kill or maim the suspect; the justification for subjecting heretics to the same torture as common thieves and murderers was that heretics wer "robbers and murderers of souls and thieves of the sacraments of God and Christian faith". The bull also allowed for what amounted to the looting of accused heretics' property by the state and the church, which divided up the belongings of the accused and razed their houses.