Posted on 12/24/2001 8:36:44 AM PST by KQQL
Vatican Condemns Israel’s Ban on Arafat’s Travels to Bethlehem
(IsraelNationalNews.com) The Vatican today publcly condemned Israel's ban on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat from travelling to Bethlehem. The Vatican is reported as attempting to convince Israel to reverse the decision
but then you would have to take sides. That might be uncomfortable and cost you something.
Gazillions?
That would have wiped the earth's population, sport.
On top of that - a lot was *learned* through some of those unfortunate events ...
The Pope condemns terrorism, what are you babbling about?
Gazillions?From:
The Spanish Inquisition: Fact Versus Fiction
As far as the Spanish Inquisition is concerned, one must look for context to chronology and geography. Chronology first. The Holy Office, as it was popularly called, was founded in 1478 on the strength of a papal rescript requested by the sovereigns of a newly united Spain, the wife and husband, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. For precedent they cited the functioning of the Roman Inquisition during the thirteenth century when, under this rubric, the popes established special circuit courts to investigate and, when possible, to root up various heterodox movements, especially in southern France and northern Italy. These movements - lumped together under the rather sinister-sounding label "Cathari" - had alarmed the lords temporal of the time no less than the lords spiritual, because the Manichaean doctrines and life-style proposed by the Cathari were deemed as subversive of civil well-being as of ecclesiastical. Over the course of a hundred years or so the Cathari were pretty well stamped out or driven underground through the cooperative efforts of Church and State. The inquisitors' job had been to establish the juridical facts in each case, and if, as a result, an individual were judged to be an unyielding heretic, the government's job had been to exact punishment from that person, up to and including death.As far as procedure was concerned, the Spanish Inquisition pretty much followed the precedent established in the thirteenth century and the models provided by secular tribunals. The legal machinery was put into motion by sworn denunciation of an individual or, on occasion, of a particular village or region. In the latter instance, prior to the formal inquiry a "term of grace" of thirty to forty days was routinely issued, during which period suspected dissidents could recant or prepare their defense. Once accused, a defendant was provided the services of a lawyer, and he could not be examined by the officers of the court without the presence of two disinterested priests. The identity of the witnesses of his alleged crime, however, was not revealed to him, and so he could not confront them. This was a severe disadvantage, even though harsh punishment was meted out to those revealed to have been false accusers. Judges, not juries, decided questions of fact as well as of law, and in effect the Spanish Inquisition combined the functions of investigation, prosecution, and judgment. Indeed, anyone arrested by the Inquisition was presumed guilty until proven innocent, a circumstance very unsettling to us who have enjoyed the blessings of the English common law tradition. Torture, a commonplace with secular jurisdictions, had been forbidden at first in the old Roman Inquisition, but then it had gradually come into use, with the provisos that it be applied only once and that it not threaten life or limb. In Spain these rules were adopted from the start, but early on Sixtus IV, deluged with complaints, protested to the Spanish government that the Inquisition was employing torture too freely. Unhappily the pope's remonstrances fell on deaf ears.
But once again we must stress the chronological track, because the bloody reputation of the Spanish Inquisition - though it formally existed for more than three centuries - was earned during its first decade and a half, even before, that is, the capture of Granada. During this unhappy period perhaps as many as 2000 persons were burnt as heretics. Though this number is only a small fraction of what the Black Legend routinely alleged, it is nevertheless sobering enough. Almost all those executed were conversos or New Christians, converts, that is, from Judaism who were convicted of secretly practicing their former religion. It should be borne in mind that the Inquisition, as a church-court, had no jurisdiction over Moors and Jews as such. But, ironically, once such persons accepted baptism they became capable of heresy in the technical sense of the word. Thus the early savagery of the Spanish Inquisition contributes another chapter to the sad history of anti-Semitism, motivated on this occasion, however, more by politico-religious expediency than by racial hatred. It was in any event an enormous and unforgivable miscalculation. Far from constituting a danger to the nation, the Jewish conversos of previous decades had already been admirably blended into the larger community. As Professor William Monter has pointed out, the New Christians "represent the first known large-scale and long-term assimilation of Jews into any Christian society. Although the process included many painful adaptations, some severe backlash and even a decade of brutal persecution under the Inquisition, it ended with their general integration into Spanish society. Their descendants quietly flouted racist codes and contributed to the vibrant Catholicism of Golden Age Spain; St. Teresa of Avila was the granddaughter of a New Christian penanced by the Inquisition."
Your question betrays your myopia. No, this is a war between Islamic terrorism and what remains of the West. The Vatican plays the role of Neville Chamberlain, at best.
Really ?
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, asked about Israel's refusal to let Arafat travel to the town of Jesus' birth unless he arrests the assassins of cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi, said: "Through the [Vatican's] Secretary of State, a diplomatic step has been made to avoid this arbitrarily imposed ban and to thus facilitate a more conciliatory climate in the area." He did not elaborate on what step the Vatican's diplomatic branch had taken.
Yasser Arafat is a terrorist.
What is the Vatican babbling about?
From:http://net2.netacc.net/~mafg/jtchick/inquistn.htm
The Spanish Inquisition, and the Inquisition in Venice and other countries, must not be identified with the ecclesiastical Inquisition.They were mixed tribunals, with the civil element predominating, and their excesses cannot be charged to the Church.
The Spanish Inquisition, established in 1481 by Ferdinand and Isabella, was intended primarily for the Mohammedan converts to Catholicism, in the old Arab kingdoms, who were suspected of wishing to return to their old religion, and for disguised Jews, many of whom had succeeded in becoming priests and even bishops. The tribunal, once established, also directed its activity against murder, immorality, smuggling, usury, and other offenses. The king appointed the Grand Inquisitor and the other officials, and also signed the decrees; and the penalties were inflicted in his name. Pope Sixtus IV approved the Spanish Inquisition, because he was under the impression that an ecclesiastical Inquisition was to be established; when the true state of the case was brought to his knowledge, it was too late; all that he and his successors could do was to protest against its excesses. The Spanish kings made extensive use of the powers of the Inquisition against obnoxious prelates and nobles who were not subject to the jurisdiction of other tribunals. On one occasion the Pope had great difficulty in rescuing Cardinal Caranza, Primate of Toledo, from the hands of the Inquisitors.
Are you a Christian?
BS. Our Pope leads us Catholics. What's your problem?
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