Interview on medieval catholic church/ explanations/crusades/inquisition/3popes at same time

http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2014/04/an-interview-with-dr-thomas-madden-on-the-medieval-catholic-church/

at the end of the interview he recommends some books on the subject

concerning the fourth crusade: comment 9 here http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2014/04/an-interview-with-dr-thomas-madden-on-the-medieval-catholic-church/

distinction between the part of the Venetian leaders of the Fourth Crusade, and the communications from the Pope seem to be an attempt to make the sack of Constantinople into rogue activity separate from the intent of the Catholic Church. I would suggest that even if it was an unintended consequence, that still does not give the Pope a free pass, especially when churches in Western Europe were enriched by holy relics plundered from the churches of Constantinople.

You seem to be claiming that the pope was responsible for individual excommunicated Catholics who plundered Constantinople and brought relics back into Western Europe. He excommunicated the army of the 4th crusade, and he warned them repeatedly not to attack fellow Christians, to include the Byzantines. I think it unfair to make him responsible for the actions of people who were disobeying his express wishes.

If the siege and capture of Constantinople was led by rogue lay military, they were aided and abetted by the Roman Catholic clergy who preached on the righteousness of the cause of the besieging Crusaders in sermons on the eve of the final assault. Standards of bishops were flying in the forefront of the assault, and priests in full armor were active in the front of the fray. (Papal Supremacy and the Parting of the Ways I, podcast dated Apr 17, 2014 by Fr. John Strickland,http://www.ancientfaith.com)

It is true that there were Catholic bishops and priests who encouraged the excommunicated crusaders to attack Constantinople. Yet these religious were not acting with permission or encouragement from the pope. The bishops even told the excommunicated crusaders, falsely, that they had absolved them of the excommunication. Yet they did not have the power to do this, and were acting without proper papal authority. I, and the Catholic Church, are certainly am sorrowed that this event occurred in the way that it did, and are remorseful for the actions of both rogue crusaders and rogue clergy. It is a terribly dark spot on the history of East-West Christian relations.

A close listen to the portion of the podcast that I cited may suggest that some comments by Dr. Madden referred to one certain crusade, but the general drift of his talk concerns the several crusades together, so I do not think that the sack of Constantinople is “quite a separate issue”. I do not know what treatment he gives this incident in his written works. But in a talk like this, the best tactic is to bring out your weak points, giving them the best possible explanation, denying opponents the opportunity to frame the debate. In this short talk, the sack of Constantinople got ignored.

I agree that ideally a discussion of Constantinople would have strengthened this interview, so feel free to blame me for not including that question in the interview. Rest assured Dr. Madden addresses the 4th Crusade both in his audio lecture series and his New Concise History of the Crusades, so the blame here should not be placed on Dr. Madden – he simply responded to a very specific Protestant objection regarding the Crusades, and was not asked to comment on all the complexities and controversies surrounding them. Plenty of other issues regarding the Crusades also “got ignored” in the sense that he did not exhaustively address every major objection against the Crusades. This would have been a bit outside the scope of a brief 30 minute podcast interview.

see also http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2014/04/reformed-apologist-and-expert-on-islam.html

Timewatch - The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition (BBC 1994):

 Another article which goes into some depth and cites the above video can be found here explains:" Myth can be destroyed only by fact, and the fact is that between 3000 and 5000 were killed in the 350 years of the Inquisition, whereas in the same period in Protestant countries, 150,000 witches alone were burned for heresy. As Professor Stephen Haliczer of Northern University of Illinois verifies, the Inquisitors never used method of torture that were common in Protestant countries - disemboweling and gouging out of eyes for example."