Crusade Against the Grail - Rennes-le-Chateau Research and ...

166 PART FOUR
When a heretical perfectus remained obstinately loyal to his faith, he was
handed over to the secular arm. If the civil authorities were slow in executing a
sentence of death against a heretic, the Church used, without any circumspection,
all recourses at its disposal to force them to obey. 4
According to the Toulouse Inquisitor Bernard Gui, the principles for guiding
his colleagues during the exercise of their pious duties were the following: "The
goal of the Inquisition is the extermination of the heresy; very well then, this
cannot happen if there are heretics, and these cannot be destroyed if those who
protect and help them are not destroyed: this can happen only through two ways:
converting the heretics to the true faith or handing them over to the secular arm for
their cremation."
Before handing a heretic over to the civilian authorities in consonance with
canon law, they were asked to apply the punishment in such a way as to avoid
implying any danger to body and life. This petition was nothing more than a
hypocritical dirty trick of the Roman canons, as the words of Saint Thomas
Aquinus, written with absolute sincerity, show:
Under no circumstances is it possible to be indulgent with the heretics. The
compassion, full of love of the Church certainly permits that they should be
admonished, but in the case that they reveal themselves as obstinate, they have
to be handed over to the secular arm so that death gets them out of this world.
Isn't this the proof of the infinite love of the Church? For this reason, a
repented heretic is always admitted for penitence, and because of this, his life
is respected. But if he converts into a relapsed heretic, he could truly accede to
penitence for the good of his soul, but he can not save himself from the
penalty of death. 5
The Inquisitors were always very clear: Handing a heretic over to the secular
arm meant the death penalty. To avoid profaning their churches, the
announcements of the death sentences were never displayed inside their sacred
walls; instead they were made public on the main square where the execution
pyres were set ablaze and the victims burned to ashes.
The Church considered the incineration of heretics an act of piety of such
importance that full indulgences were given to those who brought