Torture was considered a valid interrogation technique, but the state did the executions, not the Church.
Oh for crying out loud analex....the church was a political machine in garb then...just as some churches are today..."having only an appearance of Christianity"...THAT is what the church was then. Trying to protect the church then from what they indeed do would be like the Pope saying the homosexual, pedophile issues were done by someone else..not those in leadership.
Interrogation to find out what exactly?
The Jews handed Jesus over to the Romans for execution and yet the blood remained on their hands. Just because they got someone else to do their dirty work doesn’t mean they weren’t responsible.
And besides, with the level of medical care available in those days, just how many of the gruesomely tortured victims would have survived anyway? The Church essentially killed them with the torture. No way they were going to survive what was done to most of them.
Matter of fact, I doubt the survival rate would be spectacular even today. There’s only so much damage that can be done to a human body before it’s injured beyond repair.
Likely all the execution did was cut short the suffering a very slow and agonizing death by replacing it with a quicker and agonizing death.
Really? Where in the gospels did Jesus teach or command that?
They couldn't have just asked?