Pope Takes A Crack At Fucking Over The WLB

[Jehanne]

Birds of a feather.  Just remember when catholicks were running things we had the Inquisition.  They are not heroes.

There were multiple motives a float during that time -- political power & control over the ignorant masses, husbands' control over their wives & families, stability of the monarchies, vassalage and feudalism, a high birth rate (as there existed a high death rate -- 3 out of 4 kiddos did not survive to reproductive age), fielding a large enough army to defend kingdoms, both earthly and "heavenly", etc.  But, at the heart of it all was Dante's vision (which predated him, of course) of the Earth at the center of the cosmos with heavenly spheres above and hellish spheres below, and so, the Inquisitions were viewed as being institutions of mercy.  It was reasoned that no rational person would choose heresy just as no rational person would choose amputation, and so, the clerics who worked those jobs believed that they were saving souls, either those of the wayward who had stumbled into heresy, and especially, those other innocent Christians (Catholics) who the heretic would deceive with the Devil's lies, leading both to the everlasting fires & torments of eternal Hell.  Burning someone alive at the stake was the final act of "mercy", whereby the condemned could gain some sort of "salutary repentance" which would allow them to pass into Purgatory (and, eventually, Heaven, the Beatific Vision of endless, eternal bliss), or that failing, would at least prepare the reprobate's soul for Hell, making the transition, as it were, "easier".