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bearing a banner with a green cross and a sword, and members of | Church as were the living exponents of the faith, and this the French nobility, including the Duke of Burgundy and the evidence is provided in the Catholic Encyclopedia (iii, pp. 435- Count of Nevers, accompanied him. The truth of the matter is 37) under a sterilised entry headed "Cathars". that when the army was activated, it was directed and manipulated Unable to achieve constant, crushing victories in battle because unequivocally under the control of the Church of Christ. With the of the Cathars' fortifications, the popes embarked upon an official instructions of Abbé Amaury, the Church undertook one of the policy of systematic devastation of their farms, buildings, most gruesome massacres of human beings in world history. vineyards, wheat fields and orchards. The devastation caused by What followed was horrific. The crusade started at Béziers, the Catholic army was immense and the loss to civilisation is and some chroniclers say that all inhabitants of the city were difficult to comprehend. Historians estimate that more than 500 massacred within one week. Some put the number of the dead at _—_— towns and villages disappeared from the map as a result of its 40,000 men, women and children. It is said that during the first depredation. After three and a half decades of brutality and few days, 6,000 or 7,000 people were systematically taken to the _ ruthlessness, the disdain of Europe deepened when the final battle Church of St Magdalene and individually slaughtered. It is a against the Cathars took place at their castle stronghold, great pity that we have no reliable records of the population of Montségur, in 1244. Béziers. One can only point out that it was one of the great cities In later times, the Church naively confessed that the motive for of the prosperous and, for those days, highly populated its unprecedented butchery and devastation of the Cathars was Languedoc. What stands out with certainty about the massacre on "their wealth...and their contempt for the Catholic clergy, caused 22 July 1209 is its appalling extent and its indiscriminate nature. by their ignorance and the worldly and the too-frequently- But there was worse to come. scandalous lives of the latter" (Catholic Encyclopedia, i, p. 268). It is remarkable that, until recent times, there has been little "The Inquisition," said Bishop Bruno of Segni, a 16th-century comment on the extent of the Church's horrors against the Catholic writer, "was invented to rob the rich of their possessions. Cathars. With the increasing interest in Catharism in the last few The pope and his priests were intoxicated with sensuality; they decades, there have been attempts on despised God because their religion had the part of Catholics to seriously been drowned in a deluge of wealth" minimise the extent of this outrage and (A History of the Popes, McCabe, conveniently downgrade the magnitude . ibid.). Around the same time we have of the carnage to irrelevancy. Such It Is remarkable that, the complaint of the papal legate efforts to suppress the truth he until recent times, there has Elmericy who said that the popes were ristian history, while not wholly . relaxing their zeal to persecute successful, seem to have strengthened been little comment on the because there were "no more rich me faith of those ne wish to believe. extent of the Church's horrors heret * el to th way in which Catholic writers now F s there a parallel to these make light of this appalling papal against the Cathars. motivations in the history of religion? outrage is shameful. The fact that We are thought to be offensive if we popes carried out these murders in the refuse to speak devoutly of a divinely name of Christ is especially guided "Holy Roman Church". unfortunate for Christians. If we accept Christian writers, with a habitual the Church's excuse that the crusaders were men in a mood of indifference to the truth, would have us forget these facts and deep religious sentiment who set out to repress a body of people accept their artifice that the "Holy Fathers" were men of pious who did not believe the Christianity formally professed, then we integrity. But the worst was yet to come. are accepting an untruth. What is beyond doubt is that when the Continued next issue... Catholic army was mobilised, it was the most appalling killing machine Europe had ever seen. Author's Note: The consequence of the sack of Béziers was stunning and was Some of the dates for the popes and events in papal history are estimates; something analogous to the effects of the atomic bombing of _ eventhe Church admits as much. The dates were further complicated by the changes made to the Julian calendar by Pope Gregory XIll (pope Hiroshima in the Second World War. It was a horror of a 1572-85) in 1582. magnitude exceeding anything in the memory of the people of the Midi. That popes could authorise such human tragedies to occur that P in be rtedly sere ase f ch" proof of the sightlessness Tony Bushby, an Australian, became a businessman and entrepreneur that can be engendered by | blind faith’. ; early in his adult life. He established a magazine-publishing business After Béziers, Church troops marched triumphantly to and spent 20 years researching, writing and publishing his own Carcassonne, the greatest fortress of the day. It could justifiably magazines, primarily for the Australian and New Zealand markets. have been regarded as a prize which could only fall after months With strong spiritual beliefs and an interest in metaphysical subjects, or years of siege, but it succumbed in less than a month after the Tony has developed long relationships with many associations and sack of Béziers (The Great Heresy, Dr Arthur Guirdham, Neville societies throughout the world that have assisted his research by making Spearman, Jersey, 1977). Europeans shuddered when they heard __ their archives available. He is the author of The Bible Fraud (2001; that another 5,000 people were slaughtered at Marmande on 26 _reviewed in NEXUS 8/06 with extracts in NEXUS 9/01-03), The Secret in September 1209, and Guillaume de Tudéle records a dreadful the ea eo nite) ana win Cuan aoe ce oOOe description of men, women and children being hacked to pieces e sands of Giza’, In 1 and whe Crucifixion of 1 rt ; by the Militia of Jesus Christ. That the supposed preaching of eeniee ihe bea Boole webate hagafonreotuabookscom, Christ ever came to be the basis of such exuberant aggressiveness As Tony Bushby vigorously protects his privacy, any correspondence against human beings is a matter for reflection. The records and should be sent to him care of NEXUS Magazine, PO Box 30, Mapleton literature of the Cathars were as ruthlessly destroyed by the Qld 4560, Australia, fax +61 (7) 5442 9381. , , About the Author: It is remarkable that, until recent times, there has Author's Note: Some of the dates for the popes and events in papal history are estimates; even the Church admits as much. The dates were further complicated by the changes made to the Julian calendar by Pope Gregory XIll (pope 1572-85) in 1582. About the Author: Tony Bushby, an Australian, became a businessman and entrepreneur early in his adult life. He established a magazine-publishing business and spent 20 years researching, writing and publishing his own magazines, primarily for the Australian and New Zealand markets. With strong spiritual beliefs and an interest in metaphysical subjects, Tony has developed long relationships with many associations and societies throughout the world that have assisted his research by making their archives available. He is the author of The Bible Fraud (2001; reviewed in NEXUS 8/06 with extracts in NEXUS 9/01-03), The Secret in the Bible (2003; reviewed in 11/02, with extract, "Ancient Cities under the Sands of Giza", in 11/03) and The Crucifixion of Truth (2005; reviewed in 12/02). Copies of these books are available from NEXUS offices and the Joshua Books website http//www.joshuabooks.com. As Tony Bushby vigorously protects his privacy, any correspondence should be sent to him care of NEXUS Magazine, PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560, Australia, fax +61 (7) 5442 9381. 40 = NEXUS been little comment on the against the Cathars. www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2006 — JANUARY 2007