I hear this rot all the time by people who are ignorant of history and hence believe the sea of anti Catholic garbage that floats around out there like the stench of a New Jersey land fill. But as soon as I ask anyone to point out a specific example of bloodshed that was perpetrated unjustly by the Catholic Church they run for the hills or pull out some time-worn, revisionist rhetorical b.s. Were there individual Catholics who killed unfairly, acting outside of Church authority or acting against the teachings of the Catholic Church? Yes. Just like anyone else,the men and women of the Catholic Church are not perfect, and are all sinners quite capable of killing unjustly when they fail to follow Church teachings. But the CHURCH, the perfect Bride of Christ, is stainless and spotless in her teachings and doctrines. The Bible in fact calls the Church "the pillar and foundation of the truth". (1 Timothy 3:15).
A brief expose of a malicious fallacy and lie hurled agaisnt the Bride of Christ over the centuries in an attempt to sully her name and the Name of her Lord and Founder, Jesus Christ.
(1). THE CRUSADES:
Protestant and Masonic "historians", endeavoring to discredit the Catholic Church, have been claiming for centuries that the Catholic Church wantonly attacked Islam in the middle ages, slaughtering them and forcing conversions on them. But here are the real facts. ~~~ By the time of the first Crusade, around 1098 A.D., the Mohammedans had already attacked and conquered 65% of all Christian lands, including most of Spain, the middle east, (which was previously nearly all Christian), North Africa, much of Byzantium,(the Eastern Roman Empire), and much of the Christian Balkans. At one earlier point the Mohammedans drove all the way into central France, but were finally expelled by Charles Martel. ~~~ In 1071 A.D. the Muslim hordes assembled a huge army at Manzikeret, and prepared to attack Greece, (the seat of Byzantine Christianity). The Greeks sent their best trained men, roughly 70,000 of them, out to meet the Islamic warriors. It was a gamble, because if they were defeated there would be no viable army left to stop the onslaught of Islam. A tactical mistake occurred and the Greek army was wiped out, nearly to the man. Now, this left open not only the rest of Byzantium, but also a gateway into Western Europe. With the eastern Christian army defeated, who would stop Islam from pouring into Western Europe? Also during this time, Jerusalem was taken by Islam and Christians were expelled, killed, tortured, enslaved. Christians in those times were devout, and they viewed the Holy Land with sacred awe. Muslims were desecrating all the holy places and churches, even the burial place of Jesus Christ was not spared. The Western Europeans had to act - there was no other choice but go on the offensive.
During the Crusades, which mostly amounted to the Islamic slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Christian soldiers, the Christians never forced the Mohammedans to convert as is widely held today by those who like to reinvent history to their liking. In fact, the Christian Crusaders never even held enough land during the Crusades to control any large populations of Moslems. They took some cities, but then built castles to protect themselves and provide rear guard and supply assistance to the soldiers riding towards Jerusalem. The notion that the Crusaders invaded and conquered large swaths of land and forced conversions is absolutely ridiculous. In fact, during the first Crusade, it is estimated that the Crusaders left Western Europe with roughly 500,000 men. By the time they got to Jerusalem and conquered it, they had only 15,000 men left, (Hillaire Belloc, "The Crusades"). The Crusaders got slaughtered along the way, they lost many men to starvation and disease, and many others simply went back home, (not a crime in those days to desert). After the successful first Crusade to take Jerusalem, all the others ended in utter slaughter and defeat for the Christians.
I know, now you're going to tell me about the Spanish Inquistion. But this is just another anti Cahtolic red herring. Modern scholars agree that only several thousand people were put to death during several hundred years of the Spanish Inquisition, and not the "tens of thousands" that the anti Catholic pseudo historians have charged over the years. And it was the SPANISH Inquisition, not the "Catholic" Inquistion. The King and Queen of Spain were Catholics, but they were soveriegn rulers of their nation. The Popes had long since lost their power to control Kings. Initially, the King of Spain sent a letter to the Pope and received his sanction to go ahead with the Inquistion. But history clearly records future leters from the Popes condemning the practices of the Inquisition, and trying vainly to stop them. Even CATHOLIC BISHOPS AND PRIESTS were put on trail, and the Pope's intervention for them proved fruitless.
It must be remembered also, that Spain has been under the brutal lash of Islamic control for 600 years. When Spain finally threw off the yoke of Islamic oppression and control, they found that many Muslims had infiltrated into the Church and secular society, as false converts to Christianity. Also, many Jews had fought alongside the Muslims in North Africa, helping them to kill Spaniards on the battlefields. (This is well documented history.) Keep in mind that many acts of sedition, spying and even murder of priests had taken place in Spain by these false "converts", therefore, the King of Spain decided to find out exactly who had infiltrated his government and threatened his society. After being subjected for 600 years Spain was in no mood to find their country getting overthrown again by infiltrators. Important facts like these are lost in the raging history of anti Catholicism.
But how bad was the Inquistion? I can tell you this: the Catholic Church introduced a brand new concept to the Spanish Inquistion, they mandated that all those accused must have a lawyer, were entitled to witnesses, and must be judged by their peers. Furhtermore, it was ordered that anyone proved to have lied just to get another person indicted falsely would have to serve a long prison sentence. (This alleviated many a false charge). Also, while torture was a generally accepted practice by every civilized nation on earth at the time, the Church introduced a law that would minimize all tortures to gain confessions to a twenty minute time span, and ordered that all tortures that could either kill or permanently maim must be outlawed. This was a incredible act of mercy considering the times. In point of fact, the Inquisition became so progressive, civilized and well ordered for the times, that history records that idicted criminals begged the King to be tried as heretics, just so they could obtain the benefits of being tried by the Inquisition.
I hope these few little facts will help to dispel some of the anti Catholic bigotry out there, and enlighten some Catholics to the truth about the history of our Church. The Catholic Church is a spotless Divinely Instituted Church, but because it is made up soley of human beings there will always be sin and evil amongst its members. This is unavoidable. But people should keep in mind that when they attack the Church as an institution, (and not the individual sinners), they are attacking Jesus Christ Himself, for he founded this Church on Saint Peter some 2,000 years ago, (Mathew 16:19). It should also be remembered that even the Apostles, Jesus' first "priests", were sinners. Peter denied Our Lord three times, Thomas doubted Jesus right to his face, Judas betrayed Jesus. Other Apostles argued about who were the greatest among them. This in no way indicts Christ's spotless Holy Bride, the Church.