The inquisition called the "Holy Office" , Was instituted by Innocent III and perfected by his successor, Gregory IX. It was a court of the Catholic church for the detection and punishment of heretics and demanded that everyone inform against heretics. Anyone suspected was liable to be tortured, without knowing the name of his accuser. The proceedings were secret. The Inquisitor pronounced sentence, and delivered the victim to the civil authorities to be imprisoned for life or burned.
Torture Chamber inquisition showing the 3 main means of torture used: the suspension on the pulleys, the water torture and fire.
The victim's property was then confiscated and divided between church and state.
During the period that immediately followed, Pope Innocent III the Inquisition did its job the deadliest against the Albigenses, but also made countless victims in Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands.
Later, the Inquisition was the main instrument of the papacy in its effort to crush the Reformation. During the 30 years between 1540 and 1570, no fewer than nine million of Protestants were put to death in the war of extermination against the pope led the Vaudois.
Think of the monks and these priests dressed in their clothes "sacred" who ran with a cruelty and inhuman brutality and torture in the woodshed for sending men and women and innocents in the name of Christ, by express order of the "Vicar of Christ" the Pope in person.
The Inquisition was the most diabolical infamy in the history of mankind. It was designed by the popes and used by them for 500 years to maintain their power. 
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