"The state" did not conduct the many and varied Inquisitions, such as the Roman Inquisition and the Medieval Inquisition.
The papacy in Rome did.
Even the Spanish Inquisition, while supposedly under control of the Roman Catholic monarchs, was instituted to maintain Roman Catholic control of those conquered.
And you say you want to introduce America to these Inquisitions.
No wonder the RCC is fading in this country.
You wrote:
“”The state” did not conduct the many and varied Inquisitions, such as the Roman Inquisition and the Medieval Inquisition. The papacy in Rome did.”
False. The only inquisition under the direct control of the papal administration was the Roman one. The other inquisitions were all run either by local bishops or - as in the case of Spain - the Spanish state.
“Even the Spanish Inquisition, while supposedly under control of the Roman Catholic monarchs, was instituted to maintain Roman Catholic control of those conquered.”
False. The inquisition was instituted by the Spanish state and it was used to maintain the purity of faith and to root our violations of the natural law in Spanish territories.
“And you say you want to introduce America to these Inquisitions.”
I wouldn’t mind. Neither should you if you ever wanted to punish those who abused children. If an inquisition existed, the abuse would never have happened or at least would never have been covered up by anyone. I guess you don’t care as much about fighting the abuse as you claim.
“No wonder the RCC is fading in this country.”
It isn’t. But dream on. You’ll probably just make it up if reality doesn’t work for you.
The inquisitions were usually instituted by the Church indeed, with the noble cause of eliminating heresy from the ranks of the Church. The state, usually, cooperated because the state, too, has an interest in making things right. The punishments were chosen and imposed by the state and not by the Church. A modern inquisition will have to deal with the modern state which would not punish, for example, abortion promoters, so I don’t expect priests will be burned at a stake. However, it would have been much better if ten years ago, if not sooner, those found guilty of child abuse were excommunicated immediately and send over to the state for prosecution as child molestation is a crime recognized by the state.