Summary: This is the 5th episode in a series we’re calling “The Long Road to Reform.” What do you think of when I say “The Inquisition”? Many shudder. Some get a slightly queasy feeling in their stomach because of the way the Inquisition has been cast in novels & movies. There’s a bit of truth in that portrayal, one-sided & stereo-typed as it may be. We’re backing up yet again in our timeline as we take a closer look at this sad chapter of Church History. The 4th Lateran Council of 1215 was the high-water mark of the medieval papacy under Innocent III. The Council was really little more than a rubber stamp committee for Innocent’s reforms. Those reforms both brought much needed change to the morals of the clergy, but also installed structures that worked against later reform. The 4th Lateran Council established the doctrine of transubstantiation and the sacrament of penance. And the Inquisition, which had begun as a commission of inquiry under Pope Alexander III a generation before, became a permanent feature of Church life. (more…)
