Yet More Haggling on Vatican Victims

Now that I am not so rushed, here's an expansion of my email to you last night.

Chick's written claim of 68 million killed by order of the pope(s) cited as his source the book The Shadow of Rome.

The quoted source, although anti-Catholic, does not support Chick's bogus claim. What The Shadow of Rome by John B Wilder, (1960) published by Zondervan, actually says is,

"The records of historians and martyrologists show that it may be reasonable to estimate that from fifty to sixty-eight millions of human beings died, suffered torture, lost their possessions, or were otherwise devoured by the Roman Catholic Church during the awful years of the Inquisition."

This does not tell us how many were killed. If a million Catholics become monks and nuns, taking a vow of poverty and giving up their possessions, it would be true (but meaningless) to say that a million people died, suffered torture, lost their possessions, or were otherwise devoured by the Roman Catholic Church. In my example, none were murdered, suffered torture, or were devoured, but they all did lose their possessions.

Is Wilder saying that the ones who died during the Inquisition were executed or is he referring to the millions who simply died at that time, maybe because of illness or accident? Wilder's clever assault on the Catholic church by confusing insinuations has been taken a step further by Chick to become a malicious lie.

My limited research indicates that fewer people were executed EVER as a result of Catholic Inquisitions, than the 50,000 Catholics executed, many cruelly, by King Henry VIII for refusing to join his new church. I find it untrue to say that more were killed in the Inquisitions than the millions of Jews killed by Hitler and the Nazis.

Years after the Spanish Inquisition, the Spanish Royalty did kick "the Jews" out of Spain (around 27,000) and (shock) it was the Catholic Pope who arranged for them to be welcomed in Italy!

Frederick Marks, Ph.D in History, writes in his new book A Brief for Belief, The Case for Catholicism, that the Spanish Inquisition was not to convert non-Catholics (many of whom were friends of the Queen, a Catholic) but to uncover traitors and those seeking to overthrow or weaken the monarchy. He writes, "Only two thousand or 2% of those tried for treason by the Spanish were actually executed. The process was so fair, in fact, and prison conditions so tolerable under Torquemada [the Grand Inquisitor] (who has been roundly caricatured by English historians) that defendents accused of other crimes begged to have their cases brought before the Inquisition."

Compare Chick's outrageous assertions that Pope Pius XII was allied with Hitler with the abundance of data from WWII US newspapers, Jewish testimony, and current research that Pope Pius XII was not in league with Hitler (a former Catholic who hated the Catholic Church), but a staunch foe of Hitler who saved an estimated 800,000 Jews from Hitler. After the war, the Jewish nation planted a forest of 800,000 trees to honor the work of Pope Pius XII. The data can be found on various websites, on Catholic Answer radio and in books. I will send you an example in a separate email. There is no excuse for Jack Chick not to know his attacks on Pope Pius XII are absurd.

Yours in Christ, Joeseph

Dear Joseph,

Thank you for your article about Hitler and the Pope. I don't personally think the Pope backed Hitler, and I agree he helped many Jews escape, but he clearly did not rock the boat as much as he could have to end Hitler's rule. The Catholic church had considerable wealth and power that it might have utilized in that regard, but didn't. I'm not sure I blame them, because it would have meant losing everything if they were caught and Hitler won the war. But to make them out as "staunch foes" and heroes of the resistance is ridiculous. Like most folks, they went with the flow. It is also exaggerating to say that Hitler was a "former Catholic who hated the Catholic Church." Although Hitler did not take time to attend mass, he continued to tithe to the Church along with every member of his cabinet.

So I come down somewhere between your view and Chick's on that subject.

Regarding the Inquisition, however, I agree you are right that Chick is wrong about the numbers. But then you are ALSO wrong about the numbers you provide. There were many Catholic lead Inquisitions/ persecutions continuing over a span of many centuries. When you add up all the numbers of those killed-- not just tortured and stripped of property (a major source of the current Vatican's wealth), the total is in the millions. Conventional historians support this claim. I've included just one of them who isn't catholic or protestant in this link. Read it and others, or view some of the pictures provided via medieval woodcuts. Then try rereading Dr. Mark's hilarious assertion that "The process was so fair, in fact, and prison conditions so tolerable under Torquemada [the Grand Inquisitor] that defendents accused of other crimes begged to have their cases brought before the Inquisition." Haw-haw-haw, indeed.

I'm sure it's frustrating to have others criticize your church and feel they are out to discredit it. Chick has his share of enemies and I bet he knows the feeling too. (However, it's also fair to say the mainstream media goes after the fundamentalists far more than they attack the Catholic church. When the Pope came to America, it was a virtual lovefest!) But don't let the urge to defend your Church from hostile exaggerations (including Chick's) cloud your judgement to the point that you exaggerate yourself and ignore obvious facts that contradict your desired outcome.

The Inquisition(s) was a stellar event in human brutality, yet to be surpassed by any organization as far as % of the population murdered or the total length of time that the atrocities continued. The fact that it was instigated by the Vatican is well established and no one denies the Pope knew what was going on and could have stopped it if he wanted to. But the Vatican became so rich from it, it appears to have paid better to turn the other cheek and look away. Trying to suggest Henry the 8th killed more than the Catholic Church is flawed in every conceivable respect. You are inflating Henry's numbers while deflating Catholic numbers, and you are only considering the deflated numbers of ONE inquisition when there were centuries of persecution you left out. (See link.)

I thought this issue was settled when the Catholic Church officially acknowledged the Inquisition and apologized for it while visiting Israel in 2000. But if they refuse to accept that they were really responsible, or deny the extent of their crimes, then that confession was basically worthless and the apology meaningless.

I'll let you have the last word on the Hitler/Pope debate by posting your article here.

For more on misinformation used by Holocaust Revisionists, go here.

Return to Chick Memories3.

To contribute your own chick memories/remarks, click here. Allow a few days for your remarks to be added.

Rev. 2.23.01