http://www.goacom.com/overseas-digest/Religion/Church%20History/1200-1300.htmlInnocent IV allows torture
As early as 384, a synod in Rome had condemned the use of torture. Pope Nicholas I (858-67) had ruled that torture was a violation of divine law. But Pope Innocent IV thought otherwise. In his Bull Ad Extirpanda, he allowed the Inquisition to use torture. He further decreed that any disobedience even in thought was punishable.
Manual for Inquisitors
The Dominican Inquisitors, being the pope’s appointees, were subject to no one but His Holiness. They were a law unto themselves, acting both as prosecutors and judges. They operated in total secrecy and they could not err. By papal command, they were explicitly forbidden to show mercy to their victims. There was a manual called Libro Nero (Black Book) for the guidance of inquisitors. Excerpts:
“If a person confesses the whole of what he is accused of, he is unquestionably guilty of the whole; but if he confesses only a part, he ought still be regarded as guilty of the whole… Bodily torture has ever been found the most efficient means of leading to spiritual repentance… If the unfortunate wretch still denies his guilt, he is to be considered a victim of the devil… Let him perish among the damned.”
Inquisitors were forbidden to maim or kill but of course accidents occurred. A victim who did not confess was left in solitary confinement, manacled, cold and dark in his own filth. Entire families were tortured when a member informed on them. Sentences were also passed on the dead and their property confiscated.
Note, among others,
They operated in total secrecy and they could not err. By papal command, they were explicitly forbidden to show mercy to their victims.
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