Pope Ratzinger to Canonize Tomás de Torquemada, His Predecessor as Inquisitor General?

According to a highly placed source who can see the Vatican from his front porch, Pope Benedict XVI plans to extend his "big tent" reconciliation reunion tour by launching the canonization process for Tomás de Torquemada, the 15th century Inquisitor General.

Last week, the pope reversed the excommunication of four bishops of the ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X, who were consecrated without papal consent in 1988, including British Bishop Richard Williamson, who has denied the Holocaust occurred and speculated that only 300,000 Jews were killed during the Nazi regime, not six million.

According to the source, it occurred to the pope that if Pope Pius XII, referred to by historians as "Hitler's Pope," is to be canonized and a Holocaust-denying bishop can be reinstated, why not reach back in history and honor the efforts of Torquemada by making him a saint?

"Sure, Torquemada was instrumental in the Alhambra Decree, which expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492. But he only burned a few thousand heretics, and that was to save their souls." the source said. "If the Holocaust maybe didn't happen, what's a little Inquisition here or there?"

And if George W. Bush can sum up his presidency by saying he was "disappointed" that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, the pope can be disappointed that the Inquisition has received bad press through the centuries, the source said.

The current pope, the former Cardinal Ratzinger, previously served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a successor office of the Inquisition.

Comments

[cgharper]

09:22 AM on 02/11/2009

I neglected to mention Pope John Paul II also loudly criticized Bush's invasion of Iraq, calling it "a defeat for humanity that could not be morally or legally justified." He believed wars never solved anything.

cgharper,
Fort Worth

[cgharper]

09:12 AM on 02/11/2009

Laughed so hard I almost choked. Compare this nitwit to the previous pope, John Paul II. Here was a guy who had been to school, an actor, playwright and poet, who could speak numerous languages, and who flatly apologized for all the cruelties of the Church down through the ages. Actually itemized them! For instance, he apologized to Galileo. Imagine that. And he said he was sorry in behalf of the Church for burning people at the stake, for the Inquisition, for the slaughter of Muslims during the Crusades, for keeping silent while the Nazis did their thing, and so on. Wrong on abortion, wrong on birth control, wrong on gays, but shoot, nobody's perfect. And I guess he wasn't all that anxious to be burned at the stake himself.
cgharper
Fort Worth

[fwtx]

03:31 PM on 02/05/2009

Good stuff, Don, and just what I need – something else to read on the 'net so I don't have to work!

[Don Parker]

03:46 PM on 02/05/2009

Thanks, fwtx
Always happy to keep someone from working.

[Nermin Foundas]

01:23 PM on 02/05/2009

Love it, Don. Keep doing your thing. Love to read what you write.

[Don Parker]

03:44 PM on 02/05/2009

Thanks, Nermin.
I might burn in Hades, but I'll laugh all the way there.