Secret Files of the Inquisition
Based on previously unreleased secret documents from
European Archives including
the Vatican, 'Secret Files
of the Inquisition' unveils the incredible true story of the
Catholic Church's 500-year struggle to remain "the world's
only true Christian religion."
Filmed in High Definition, this 4-hour series spans,
-
medieval France in
Episode 1
-
15th century Spain in
Episode 2
-
Renaissance Italy in
Episode 3
-
mid-nineteenth century
Europe in Episode 4
Historians, experts and Church
authorities advise on the handling of this controversial
subject matter.
At the dawn of the second millennium Europe was slowly
emerging from the blackness and ignorance of the Dark Ages.
There were no nations and the
people were loyal only to their immediate community and to
God. The keeper of "God's word" was the Catholic Church, the
only religion in all of Christendom.
The supreme religious leader, the Pope in Rome, crowned the
Kings who became rulers of the Holy Roman Empire stretching
from Sicily north to Poland. The Emperor was ruler of the
temporal world while the Pope and his Bishops reigned
supreme over the Spiritual world.
By the 12th and 13th century, cracks
began appearing in this ordered world.
Emperors no longer submitted to
being crowned by the Pope and across Europe Kings demanded
the right to select their own Bishops.
But for the Pope the most
terrifying threat came from upstart Christian sects who
challenged church doctrine and the absolute power of the
Roman Pope.
To preserve the purity of the faith and the unquestioned
authority of the Pope, the Church began to crack down on all
dissenting with a new weapon:
the Inquisition.
For over half a millennium a
system of mass terror reigned.
Thousands were subject to secret
courts, torture and punishment.
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