[CharlesOConnell]

The Church might have thought about using that, at a time when most torture was on the part of civil authorities who regarded heresy as a civil crime against the state. Recall that members of the Mosaic Law Congregation asked the Almoravids to invade Spain. But the Spanish Inquisition, which sent a menacing letter to the Papacy after being told to lay off, was a civil institution supported by the Crown, just led by a civil officer in clerical garb, Torquemada, not supported by the Church.

[PIF]

Who cares? They did it. Does it really matter all that much - no one mentioned the Christian Church.