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CRIMINAL THE HISTORY PAPACY THE Many of the popes of the 13th to 16th centuries continued the criminal, bloodthirsty and debauched lifestyles of their corrupt predecessors and reached new depths of depravity that the modern Church is keen to keep hidden. Part 2 of 3 e are still in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and now expand upon the life of Pope Innocent II (1198-1216), whom many Catholics exalt above all others and regard as one of the chief constructive forces in the development of European civilisation. When he was elected in 1198, he demanded an oath of allegiance to himself, as pope, from the prefect, who represented the Holy Roman Emperor, and the senators, who represented the Roman people. In that same year, he suppressed all records of earlier Church history by establishing the Secret Archives (Catholic Encyclopedia, xv, p. 287). The Church admits: "Unfortunately, only few of the records [of the Church] prior to the year 1198 have been released" (Encyclopaedia Biblica, Adam & Charles Black, London, 1899). This admission reveals that around twelve hundred years of Christian history are hidden in the Vatican vaults and therefore publicly unknown. In order to curb the nobles, Innocent gave great power and wealth to his brother, but this nepotism and his despotic conduct aroused increasing anger and in 1203 the Romans flew to arms once more and drove Innocent and his brother into the country. He at length returned to Rome and heavily fortified the old Papal Palace. He proceeded with all the ruthlessness which is characteristic of "great popes", and he was indifferent to the appalling bloodshed which he caused. At the Fourth Lateran Council in April 1215, Innocent III condemned the Magna Carta and demanded that the Jews wear distinctive dress. He also declared that anybody caught reading the Bible would be stoned to death by "soldiers of the Church militia" (Diderot's Encyclopédie, 1759). But the main purpose of his Council was to develop a plan to expand his military affairs, his intention being ultimately to dominate all Europe—a Weltherrschaft, in which he intended to subject all kings and princes to the judgement of the Holy See. Dominic's "Catholic army" (Catholic Encyclopedia, v, p. 107) was engaged in the annihilation of the Cathars in southern France, and Innocent needed an additional army for an intervention in Germany. He asked his military adviser, Bishop Grosseteste (d. 1227), one of the most judicious prelates of the age, where he could obtain more papal troops, the advice being: "from the Catholic population, the followers of Christ, a body always incorporate with the Devil" (Diderot's Encyclopédie, op. cit.; expanded upon in From St Francis to Dante, G. G. Coulton, David Nutt, London, 1908 ed., p. 56). From centuries of Christian history as recorded by the Church itself, it is a simple matter to gather together some fascinating clerical pronouncements, and this is one example of what the papal hierarchy thought about its followers of the time. The pope's intrusion into Germany and, later, Constantinople ended in disaster, and his only success was against the unarmed Cathars. "It is no doubt for this reason that historians have denied to him the title of 'the Great', which he would otherwise seem to have deserved" (The Popes: A Concise Biographical History, Burns & Oates, Publishers to the Holy See, London, 1964, p. 226; imprimatur, Georgius L. Craven). At the age of fifty-five, Innocent was "killed by the sword in the interests of the crusade [against the Moors] which had been decided upon at the Lateran Council" (Catholic Encyclopedia, viii, p. 16). The words of Pope Gregory IX (1227-41; Ugolini di Conti, 1143-1241) confirm the Church's suppressive attitude towards unorthodoxy, for he commanded his clergy to instruct "the layman, when he hears any speak ill of the Christian faith, to defend it not with words but with the sword, which he should thrust into the other's belly as far as it by Tony Bushby © December 2006 Correspondence: c/- NEXUS Magazine PO Box 30 Mapleton, Qld 4560, Australia Fax: +61 (0)7 5493 1900 by Tony Bushby © December 2006 Correspondence: c/- NEXUS Magazine PO Box 30 Mapleton, Qld 4560, Australia Fax: +61 (0)7 5493 1900 NEXUS = 41 FEBRUARY — MARCH 2007 www.nexusmagazine.com