The Inquisition is peculiarly the weapon and peculiarly the work of the popes.

Michael Paul Clough – (14) Facebook Post Courtesy of: “Tom Pardue Sr.

“The Inquisition is peculiarly the weapon and peculiarly the work of the popes . It stands out from all those things in which they cooperated, followed or assented as the distinctive feature of Papal Rome . It was set up, renewed, and perfected by a long series of acts emanating from the supreme authority of the [ Roman Catholic] Church. No other institution, no doctrine, no teaching, no ceremony is so distinctly the individual creation of the papacy, except the dispensing power [the power to administer the Inquisition]. It is the principal thing with which the papacy is identified, and by which it must be judged. The principle of the Inquisition is the pope’s sovereign power over life and death. Whoever disobeys him [ i.e., the pope] should be tried, and tortured , and burnt. If that cannot be done, [ then] formalities may be dispensed with, and the culprit may be killed like an outlaw. That is to say, the principle of the Inquisition is murderous, and a man’s opinion of the papacy is regulated and determined by his opinion of religious assassination .” – John Acton (1843-1902; English Catholic historian)