From The Hills Of Rome Go Forth The Crusades

Much of the history of the dark side of the Roman Catholic church (to follow) was recorded by the clergy themselves, writing their journals in an age when the congregations were discouraged from learning to read. The hideous crimes and atrocities were set down by men confident that the common people would never be able to read their written words.

The First Crusade to "rescue" the holy lands began on command of Pope Urban II in 1095.

Crusaders slew thousands of non-Christians at Wieselburg, 6/12/1096.

Crusaders slew thousands of non-Christians at Semlin, 6/24/1096.

Crusaders slew thousands of non-Christians at Nikaia, Xerigordon, from 9/9/1096 to 9/26/1096.

40 cities and over 200 castles were sacked by the crusaders between 1095 and 1098.

Jews living in Worms were killed in 5/18/1096, 1100 Jews were killed in Mainz, Cologne, Neuss, Altenahr, Wevelinghoven, Xanten, Moers, Dortmund, Kerpen, Trier, Metz, Regensburg, & Prag 5/27/1096.

Antiochia was conquered, and 50,000 killed, 6/3/1098. According to Christian chronicler Fulcher of Chartres, the crusaders ran their lances through the bellies of all the women they found.

Maraat An-Numan was captured and thousands killed on 12/11/1098. According to Chronicler Albert Aquensis, the Christian conquerors engaged in acts of cannibalism.

Jerusalem was conquered on 7/15/1099 and 60,000 non-Christians were killed. Bodies were slit open to search for gold coins they might have swallowed. Jews who had taken refuge in the city's synagogue were burned alive, thousands of muslims were chopped to death in Al-Aqsa mosque.

   According to the Archbishop of Tyre, who was an eye-witness, "It was impossible to look upon the vast numbers of the slain without horror; everywhere lay fragments of human bodies, and the very ground was covered with the blood of the slain. It was not alone the spectacle of headless bodies and mutilated limbs strewn in all directions that roused the horror of all who looked upon them. Still more dreadful was it to gaze upon the victors themselves, dripping with blood from head to foot, an ominous sight which brought terror to all who met them. It is reported that within the temple enclosure alone about ten thousand infidels perished." Christian chronicler Eckehard of Aura noted that "even the following summer in all of Palestine the air was polluted by the stench of decomposition".
"Entering the city [Jerusalem, July 15, 1099], our pilgrims pursued and killed Saracens up to the Temple of Solomon, in which they had assembled and where they gave battle to us furiously for the whole day so that their blood flowed throughout the whole temple. Finally, having overcome the pagans, our knights seized a great number of men and women, and they killed whom they wished and whom they wished they let live.... Then, rejoicing and weeping from extreme joy, our men went to worship at the sepulchre of our Saviour Jesus and thus fulfilled their pledge to Him.... They also ordered that all the Saracen dead should be thrown out of the city because of the extreme stench, for the city was almost full of their cadavers. The live Saracens dragged the dead out before the gates and made piles of them, like houses. No one has ever heard of or seen such a slaughter of pagan peoples since pyres were made of them like boundary marks, and no one except God knows their number."
[Histoire anonyme de la premiere croisade, L. Brehier, ed. Paris: Champion, 1924 (From The Portable Medieval Reader, Ed. James Bruce Ross and Mary Martin McLaughlin)]

The Battle of Askalon results in 200,000 non-Christians killed "in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ", 8/12/1099. Bernard of Clairvaux, at the request of Pope Eugenius III, preached a new crusade of, "Total extermination of the Heathen - or definitive conversion!" in 1115. Bernard is also famous for the Christian doctrine that all pursuit of knowledge was a sin unless directed by the church. The church, based on Ecclesiastes, declared that all that man needed to know was already known, and considered any new search for knowledge heresy.

The Second Crusade began in 1147 with the slaughter of Jews in French cities of Ham, Sully, Carentan, and Rameru. The Second Crusade failed to re-capture Jerusalem.

The Third Crusade sacked Jewish settlements in England from 1189 to 1190. Jewish communities in London, Canterbury, Northampton, Lincoln, Cambridge, and others were exterminated.

Innocent III became Pope in 1198. During his coronation, Innocent described himself as the new Christ, then ordered a fourth crusade even as the third collapsed. Innocent III ordered Jews to live in ghettos, wear a yellow sign in public, forbade Jews to intermarry with other races, and banned Jews from certain occupations. The Nazis later cited Innocent III in their defense at Neuremburg.

Constantinople was sacked by crusaders during the Fourth Crusade on 4/12/1204. From 1095 until the fall of Akkon in 1291 probably 20 million victims in the Holy land and Arab/Turkish areas were killed by the Crusaders according to contemporary Christian chroniclers.

Albigensians, even though Christian (Cathars/Mithraists) refused to submit to the rule of Rome or to pay taxes levied by the Catholic church to pay for the disastrous Crusades. In retaliation, Pope Innocent III declared them to be heretics. 70,000 were killed in France on 7/22/1209, and thousands more were slain at Carcassonne on 8/15/1209. The genocide continued for 20 years, eventually killing over a million people, roughly 1/2 the population of Southern France. At the end of the war, the Holy Inquisition was founded to hunt down the last survivors of the heretics and erase them from the earth. The last Cathar was burned at the stake in 1324. The Inquisition then went after other sects, including Waldensians, Paulikians, Runcarians, and Josephites. Brother Torquemada, a former Dominican friar, allegedly was personally responsible for 10,220 burnings. The Office Of The Holy Inquisition continued in power until 1832.

A Christian priest persuaded several children to accompany him away from their village on 6/26/1284. The children were never seen again, but terrified parents found bloody body parts hanging in trees in the forest. The local church re-wrote the story to blame the vanished children on the sins of the villagers themselves and thus was born the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin town.

All Jews in Basel, Switzerland and Strasbourg, France were burned at the stake during 1348.

The "Jew killing craze" spread to 350 towns throughout Germany in 1349. All Jews were murdered, most by fire.

3,000 Jews were slaughtered in Prague in 1389.

Archbishop Martinez ordered the execution of 4,000 Jews in Seville in 1391. Another 25000 were sold into slavery and the church kept the money. Prior to the attack, all Jews over the age of 10 were required to wear identifying badges.

Gutenburg published his Bible in 1455. The church panicked. Up until that time, Christians were not encouraged to read the Bible (or to read at all), only to accept the authoritative word of the priests as to what it said.

Battle of Belgrade: 80,000 Turks who refused to convert to Christianity were slaughtered in 1456.

Innocent VIII became Pope in 1484. Immediately he launched the anti-witch campaigns. Allowed church officials involved in the witch hunts to keep the wealth of the condemned. Greed fueled the holocaust to come.

150,000 Jews were expelled from Spain on 6/30/1492. Most died before finding a new home.

Pope Alexander brokered the Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal in 1494. This treaty "authorized" both nations to claim any non-Catholic lands as their own and to stamp out the existing government in order to replace it with Catholic rule.

Angelo of Verona was appointed Inquisitor over all of Lombardy in 1501 by Pope Alexander, who ordered him to seek out and punish heretics. The Pope gave Angelo authority to over-ride all other religious authority to do so.

Martin Luther posted his "95 Theses" on the door to Wittenburg Castle Church on October 31, 1517, triggering the Protestant movement.

By the year 1600, Spanish Christians had looted and plundered across the new world bringing the benefits of Christianity to the indigenous people, 60,000,000 of whom were killed in the process.

April 10, 1606, the Charter for the Virginia Colony was signed. It reads in part, "To the glory of His divine Majesty, in propagating of the Christian religion to such people as yet live in ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God." Less than 20 years before, Arthur Barlowe had described the Native Americans with greatest praise for their kindness and charity. In the campaign to force Christianity on the Native Americans, the Virginia Christians reported, "...we burnt, and spoyled their corne, and Towne, all the people beeing fledde."

November 3, 1620 - King James I granted the Charter of the Plymouth council. "In the hope thereby to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion, to the glory of God Almighty."

November 11, 1620 - The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact aboard the Mayflower, in Plymouth harbor. "In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620." A Puritan Minister will soon complain to leader William Bradford that while Indians deserve to be killed, some effort should be made to force conversion upon them first so that they may go to heaven.

In 1622, Bishop Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen commenced one of the most infamous witch hunts in history, the Bamburg Witch Trials, which lasted just 8 years, condemned over 100,000 people to horrific death by fire. Aschhausen, later succeeded by Witch Bishop Johann Georg II, assembled a special team of lawyers and informants, all of whom were paid handsomely from the confiscated wealth of the condemned.

Grandier, Urbain: burned alive for witchcraft at Loudon, France, on 18 August, 1634. To convict him, church authorities forged a contract with the devil, complete with the signatures of Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Astori, Elimi, and Laviathan.

Smallpox brought with the pilgrims wiped out the natives living near the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635. Governor John Winthrop thanks God for removing the Indians from lands the pilgrims wanted.

Hermann Loher, a judge in Germany, begins to question the validity and worth of the witch trials. He is chased out of town by Christians, barely escaping with his family to Holland in 1636.

Cotton Mather published "Memorable Providences", describing the alleged witchcraft of an Irish woman in Boston in 1691. The book was very popular and widely read in nearby Salem. Among its readers is Dr. William Griggs, who was treating young Betty Parris for some strange behaviors in 1692. Unable to find a cure and unwilling to admit ignorance, Grigs cited Mather's book to support a claim of bewitchment, sparking the Salem witch hysteria.

At the annual convention of the American Federation of Catholic Societies, held at New Orleans, November 13-16, 1910, Archbishop Falconio, Papal Delegate to the Roman Catholic church in America commanded post office employees who were Catholic to destroy any mail in transit to or from non Catholic churches. For more than a year, mail to and from non Catholic churches and organizations was destroyed by Catholic post office workers until the scandal became public, and laws were passed making tampering with the US mail a felony.

At the annual convention of the American Federation of Catholic Societies, held at Columbus, Ohio, August 20-24, 1911, the Catholic church commanded their followers to boycott the Encyclopedia Britannica, because articles contained in it did not support Catholic doctrine.

Pius XI helped to bring Mussolini's Fascist Party to power in Italy and in 1926 solemnly declared: "Mussolini is a man sent by Divine Providence." In 1935 Fascist Italy attacked and invaded Abyssinia. Since the population of Italy lacked enthusiasm for this aggression, the pope hastened to declare a new crusade. For example the Archbishop of Tarent, holding a Holy Mass on a submarine, declared: "The war against Abyssinia should be viewed as a Holy War, as a crusade," which also opened "Ethiopia, the land of infidels and schismatics, to the Catholic Faith."

Papal Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, having helped bring about the fall of the Weimar Republic, formed the Catholic German Party. On March 23, 1933, the German Reichstag met, and the Catholic Party, led by its Catholic leaders, former chancellor Brüning and prelate Mgr. Kaas, personal friend of Pacelli, voted for Catholic Hitler. In his acceptance speech, Hitler described Christianity as, "essential elements for safeguarding the soul of the German people." Hitler, knowing who helped him to power, then stated, "We hope to improve our friendly relations with the Holy See." Just four months later, Hitler's government signed a concordat with the Vatican, a treaty that gave preferential legal status to the Catholic church above other churches.

The Spanish people, stricken with poverty and kept illiterate by the ruling class, had swept away the monarchy, proclaimed a republic and elected a left-wing government in 1931. Separation of State and Church was made a reality, religious freedom was granted and civil marriage adopted. Some of the Church property, roughly one third of the nation's wealth, was nationalized. To fight the "Antichrists," a violent, relentless Catholic opposition was promptly started on a large scale throughout Spain.

  By 1934 Catholic organizations already planned a coup d'état, having been in touch with the Fascist Government of Italy. On July 17, 1934 the Spanish Army rose in many Spanish towns. The Spanish Civil War had begun. As soon as the revolt broke out, General Franco made haste to let the pope know that his coup had succeeded. Franco flew the flag of Pope Pius XI over his headquarters. Pope Pius XI hoisted Franco's flag over the Vatican.

This was the beginning of a world-wide Catholic offensive against Republican Spain. Bishops in Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany and other countries published pastoral letters urging Catholics to help. The pope issued a warning that the Spanish Civil War was a foretaste of what "is being prepared for Europe and the World unless the nations take appropriate measures against it." Before the war ended, Pius XI died.

Pius XII became Pope in 1939. Pius XII's real name was Pacelli. He was the Papal Nuncio who had helped bring Hitler to power. A staunch anti Democrat, Pius XII continued the policies of his predecessor. When Franco finally established his dictatorship in Spain, Church property and all medieval privileges of the Church were restored. No other religion was allowed. Protestants and non-Catholics were sent to concentration camps for refusing to attend Catholic services. Freethinkers, democrats, Socialists and Communists were deprived of civil rights, imprisoned, or shot.

  When the Spanish republic was finally defeated by Catholic troops under Franco, would-be dictator of Spain, the pope sent a special message to the victors:
"With great joy we address you, dearest sons of Catholic Spain, to express our paternal congratulations for the gift of peace and victory with which God has chosen to crown the Christian heroism of your faith ... We give you, our dear sons of Catholic Spain, our apostolic benediction."

Spain supported both Hitler and Mussolini during World War II. Under Pius XII, the bishops of Germany stayed loyal to the Nazis until the very end of the war.

In September, 2000, the Vatican declared all non-Catholic churches "defective" and warned that followers of non Catholic religions could not get into heaven, no matter how virtuous they lived their lives.
excerpts from website: whatreallyhappened.com

  The word "witch" comes from the same root word as "wit", meaning wisdom. The class of people targeted as witches by the Christian church were herbalists and folk healers. Able to effect cures among the sick, they were a direct threat to the church, which held that all illnesses were God's will and that cures were available only to those who prayed in their churches and tossed a few coins into the collection plates.
  There followed centuries of the most hideous bloodshed and atrocities imaginable as the church terrorized all of Europe with the witch trials and grew fabulously wealthy in the process from the confiscated lands.