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Prof. McGoldrick on Catharism:

“Documentary evidence shows that the Cathars viewed marriage and procreation as capital sins for which pardon could be obtained only when one forsook such carnal relationships and received the consolation. Reinerius Saccho reported that all Cathar churches taught ‘that carnal marriage is always a mortal sin, and that the future punishment of adultery and incest will not be greater than that of lawful matrimony, nor would anyone among them be more severely punished.’ The same source indicates that the Cathars considered the eating of meat, cheese, or eggs as deadly sins…

“The Cathar-Albigense Church was organized around a core of clergymen known as the perfecti, and admission to that circle was through the consolamentum. Those who accepted Cathar teaching but were not yet ready to adopt the rigorous asceticism of the ‘perfected ones’ were called credentes—‘believers.’ The latter attended services conducted by the clergy and professed to be seeking perfection for themselves, but they lived by ordinary standards until they were ready for the consolation…

“Cathars considered the consolamentum a ‘spiritual baptism’ and a ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit,’ and they taught that no one could be saved without it… Because of their aversion to water as a material element, the Cathars practiced baptism by laying on of hands by the perfecti while the book of the Gospels was held over the candidates’ head and prayer was offered for him. This sacrament was said to accomplish cleansing from original sin and from all personal transgressions…

“There were, of course, occasions when a person who was consoled on his ‘deathbed’ showed signs of recovering. Would he be able to discharge the duties of one who had been perfected? One way to resolve this dilemma was to subject him to the endura, which was the practice of allowing the sick person to starve to death, thereby assuring him of immediate salvation. Often the endura was accepted by the sick person and so became a voluntary death, a suicide. There are records, however, of the perfecti practically imposing it upon people whom they suspected would lapse from the faith at a later time. Apparently, it was sometimes imposed upon children…

“When the papacy decided to take vigorous measures against the Albigenses, Innocent III sent Dominic Guzman, founder of the Order of the Preachers, to seek their conversion by persuasion. Dominic advised Roman Catholic clerics to avoid ostentatious displays, which might give credence to the criticisms of heretics. He also realized the Cathars had great appeal to the religious sensibilities of women, so he established a religious foundation for females and directed his disciples to work for the education of girls. These endeavors, although accompanied by extensive preaching missions, did not achieve the desired results. The powerful Albigense nobles opposed Dominic and thwarted his efforts. When the papal legate Peter of Castelnau was murdered by nobles who supported the heretics, Innocent III called for a crusade to destroy the French Cathars.” (Baptist Successionism, pp. 63-66)

“While the above description of Albigense beliefs and practices is far from complete, it shows conclusively that the Cathar movement was a major threat which the Catholic authorities had to combat. Nowhere was the suppression of Catharism more difficult than in southern France, where the heretics drew support from various socio-economic levels of society, and where a considerable portion of the nobility allied with them.” (McGoldrick, p. 65)

The Cathars were not CHRISTIANS. The evidence from history is overwhelming.