And Jews, who were given the choice convert to Catholicism or die. Ferdinand and Isabella were quite the couple. Ferdi and Izzy just had to have their very own inquisition. But the medieval inquisition had begun a couple of hundred years earlier in France and Germany, Italy.
The Spanish Inquisition was instituted to make Spain Catholic again after 600 years of rule by Islam. There were specific inquisitions earlier, certainly, but not the full Inquisition of Spain. The Jews were considered by all Christians to be lesser than Christians and in need of conversion. Martin Luther was ruthless about them; I don't believe that any of the major Reformers were less than anti Semite.
Yes, most of us want to be virtuous but at what cost?
I'm not sure of the question here.
Concerning punishment of Catholics who violate the teaching on abortion,
Would any bishop petition the Vatican to have a powerful Catholic politician excommunicated?
Especially one that could retaliate in some way? Or would a popular Catholic priest be excommunicated for making abortions easier to get and increasing the number performed by making the practice legal?
We both know from experience the answer to these questions. To actually follow through and excommunicate such persons might impose a cost the Catholic church is not willing to bear.
“The Jews were considered by all Christians to be lesser than Christians and in need of conversion.”
My mother shot down this kind of logic when I was about six years old by saying she didn't care what others did, I was not to set fire to the neighbor's chicken coop and then she thrashed me soundly. I wasn't any worse than the other kids so why should I get a beating? And some kids really were hoodlums unlike myself.
Murdering Jews because they would not accept Catholicism or any other religion is not the act of Christians.
Balancing virtue against the cost, pragmatism wins outs out everytime somehow.