"Look at the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the Borgia popes. How can that be the Church of Jesus Christ?" It is a fair question. It deserves an honest answer.
Short answer: No. Catholics, including popes, have sinned, sometimes gravely, and the Catholic Church has publicly asked God's forgiveness. But Christ never promised a Church of sinless members. He promised a Church that would never fail: "the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). He foretold weeds among the wheat, chose Judas among the Twelve, and built on St. Peter knowing he would deny Him. A Church that has kept the same faith through twenty centuries of sinful members, bad popes included, is evidence that Christ keeps His promise to her.
Key verses on sinners in the Church and Christ's promise
- "Let them grow together until harvest" (Matthew 13:30)
- "Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?" (John 6:70)
- "but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:32)
- "upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18)
- "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
- "the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Timothy 3:15)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Protestants Believe
Most Protestants do not claim that sin alone disproves a church. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), the standard of Presbyterian churches, teaches: "The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan." (WCF 25.5). And: "Nor can the pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof" (WCF 25.6).
So the strongest Protestant case runs like this. Jesus said, "By their fruits you will know them" (Matthew 7:16). Rome blessed holy wars, burned heretics, and was at times ruled by scandalous popes. A church claiming to be the infallible "pillar and foundation of truth" while doing these things has, they argue, degenerated; the true Church lived on in believers who held to the Bible.
What Catholics Actually Teach
The Catholic Church does not claim her members are sinless. "All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time" (CCC 827). She is "at once holy and always in need of purification" (CCC 827).
Her holiness comes from Christ, not from her members: "United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him" (CCC 824).
And she has said so publicly. On the "Day of Pardon," March 12, 2000, Pope St. John Paul II asked that the Church, "strong in the holiness which she receives from her Lord, should kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the past and present sins of her sons and daughters." In the same homily: "Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth" (Homily, Day of Pardon, nos. 3–4). The Universal Prayer that day confessed that "Christians have at times given in to intolerance," and, of the Jewish people, "we are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer" (Universal Prayer, Day of Pardon).
What Catholics do not teach:
- That popes are sinless. Infallibility is not impeccability. It is "the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals" (CCC 890), and the pope enjoys it only "when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful ... he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals" (CCC 891). See What Does Papal Infallibility Actually Mean?
- That every act of Catholic institutions was right, or that faith may be forced. The Second Vatican Council admits that "there has at times appeared a way of acting that was hardly in accord with the spirit of the Gospel or even opposed to it," and insists that "no one is to be forced to embrace the Christian faith against his own will" (Dignitatis Humanae 10, 12).
It all points to Christ. The Catholic Church trusts not in her members' virtue but in Jesus Christ, who "willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility" in order "to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles" (CCC 889). Her holiness is His; her sins are ours. Her survival points not to the virtue of popes but to the faithfulness of her Lord.
The Biblical Case
1. Christ foretold weeds in His own field
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field" (Matthew 13:24). When an enemy sows weeds, the master says, "if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest" (Matthew 13:29–30). Likewise the net "collects fish of every kind," and the sorting comes later: "Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous" (Matthew 13:47–49).
2. Christ chose Judas
Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?" St. John explains: "He was referring to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot; it was he who would betray him, one of the Twelve" (John 6:70–71). If a bishop's betrayal disproves the Church, then Judas disproves the apostles.
3. Christ built on a Peter who would deny Him
At the Last Supper Jesus told St. Peter, "Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31–32). He also foretold the threefold denial (Luke 22:34). Hours later it happened, and "He went out and began to weep bitterly" (Luke 22:54–62). Jesus prayed not that St. Peter would never fall, but that his faith would not fail and that he would strengthen his brothers. That is the heart of the Catholic understanding of the papacy.
4. Even after Pentecost, St. Peter's conduct was wrong
St. Paul writes, "And when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong." St. Peter had stopped eating with Gentiles "because he was afraid of the circumcised," and others followed, so that "they were not on the right road in line with the truth of the gospel" (Galatians 2:11–14). His fault was conduct, not doctrine. That is the precise difference between impeccability, which no pope has, and infallibility, which Christ gave to protect the Church's teaching.
5. Christ's promise is about the Church's survival and truth, not her members' sinlessness
"Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18): the Church will not be destroyed. "I am with you always, until the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20): Christ will not abandon her. "When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth" (John 16:13): the Church will not lose the truth. She is "the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Timothy 3:15; see Is the Church the Pillar and Foundation of Truth?). None says her ministers will be holy. St. Paul even warned that "from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth" (Acts 20:30).
The History, Told Precisely
Bad popes. They were real. Britannica describes Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia, pope 1492–1503) as corrupt, worldly and ambitious, a pope whose "neglect of the spiritual inheritance of the church contributed to the development of the Protestant Reformation" (Britannica, "Alexander VI"). We do not defend his life. But he defined no false doctrine, and the Church's teaching was not altered to suit him. Christ's protection covers the faith a pope hands on, not his morals.
The Crusades. The First Crusade was launched "to check Muslim expansion, reclaim the Holy Land, and conquer formerly Christian territories" (Britannica), but that excuses no crime. In 1096, crusading bands massacred Jewish communities in Rhineland cities such as Worms and Mainz. Some bishops tried to protect them: at Speyer the crusaders were restrained "by the exertions of Bishop John," at Worms Jews took refuge with the bishop, and at Mainz Archbishop Ruthard had promised them protection, but in both cities the protection failed (Jewish Encyclopedia, "Crusades, The"). In April 1204 the Fourth Crusade turned to "attack, capture, and pillage the Byzantine city of Constantinople," an event "widely regarded as a shocking betrayal of principles" (Britannica, "Fourth Crusade"). In Athens in 2001, Pope St. John Paul II called it "the disastrous sack of the imperial city of Constantinople": "The fact that they were Latin Christians fills Catholics with deep regret" (Address to Archbishop Christodoulos, May 4, 2001).
The Inquisitions. The Spanish Inquisition was "established by Pope Sixtus IV at the petition of Ferdinand and Isabella" in 1478, and "The Spanish and Portuguese tribunals were departments of state" (Britannica, "Inquisition: Early modern Europe"). The 1478 bull gave Ferdinand and Isabella "extraordinary powers to appoint inquisitors in all parts of Castile," and "In January 1482" Sixtus IV himself "condemned the excessive harshness with which they were carrying out their task" (Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Sixtus IV"). This does not clear the popes who authorized it, but the institution was largely under royal control, and Rome itself condemned its abuses. Complaints against the grand inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada led Alexander VI to "appoint four assistant inquisitors in June 1494 to restrain him"; Britannica estimates that about 2,000 people were burned during Torquemada's tenure (Britannica, "Tomás de Torquemada").
How many died? Not millions. Juan Antonio Llorente's figure of 31,912 executions (1817–18) is not accepted by today's specialists. From the surviving tribunal reports, which have gaps, the historians Jaime Contreras and Gustav Henningsen counted 44,674 recorded trials for 1540–1700, with 1,604 death sentences, of which 826 were executions in person (the rest in effigy). Scholarly estimates for the whole history of the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834) range from about 3,000 executions (William Monter, Henry Kamen) to fewer than 10,000 (Jean-Pierre Dedieu, Joseph Pérez), with most deaths in its first decades (Ereticopedia, "Number of victims of the Spanish Inquisition"). Each was a human being made in God's image. But an argument built on inflated numbers is not a sound argument.
Protestant history too. Not as "you did it too," but because sin is human and truth is Christ's. Mainline Protestants and Catholics alike "increased their persecution of Anabaptists throughout Europe" (Britannica, "Anabaptists"). Michael Servetus was put to death in 1553 in "his execution by Calvinists from Geneva" (Britannica, "Michael Servetus"). The Salem trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded by Puritans, "caused 19 convicted 'witches' to be hanged" (Britannica, "Salem witch trials"). Protestants rightly do not conclude from this that the Gospel is false. The same standard applies to the Catholic Church.
The saints in the same centuries. The age of the Crusades produced St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226), who in 1219 went to speak with the Muslim sultan Malik al-Kamil and received "a benevolent welcome and a cordial reception." As Pope Benedict XVI notes, "St Francis does not renew the Church without or in opposition to the Pope, but only in communion with him" (General Audience, January 27, 2010). The age of the Avignon papacy produced St. Catherine of Siena, who knew "the human shortcomings of priests" and still called the Pope "sweet Christ on earth," and who urged Pope Gregory XI, then living in Avignon, "to return to Rome" (General Audience, November 24, 2010). The saints did not leave the Catholic Church to reform her. They reformed her from within. That is the wheat among the weeds.
Objections Answered
(a) "Jesus said, 'By their fruits you will know them.' The Inquisition and the Crusades are bad fruit."
At its strongest: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them" (Matthew 7:15–16). A church that burned dissenters shows what tree it is.
Answer: Jesus is speaking of false prophets. Applied to the whole Church, it weighs all her fruit: the Scriptures she copied and canonized, the creeds every orthodox Protestant still confesses, and her saints and martyrs in every century. Bad fruit on some branches is exactly what the parable of the weeds predicts (Matthew 13:30). If bad fruit among members disproved a church, it would disprove every Protestant tradition too. The real test is Christ's promise: does she still teach what the apostles taught? The Catholic Church does.
(b) "A wicked pope like Alexander VI shows the papacy cannot be from God."
At its strongest: How can a corrupt, worldly man be the "Vicar of Christ"? If God really guided the papacy, He would not allow such men to hold it.
Answer: God allowed Judas to hold the office of apostle (John 6:70–71), and St. Peter later said of him, "He was numbered among us and was allotted a share in this ministry" (Acts 1:17). The pope's authority does not come from his virtue but "by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ" (CCC 882). Yet the worst popes defined no false doctrine. A merely human institution might well have bent its teaching to excuse them. The Catholic Church's teaching on chastity and simony stood unchanged above the very popes who broke it.
(c) "The Church killed heretics as a matter of doctrine. Pope Leo X even condemned Luther for saying burning heretics was wrong."
At its strongest: Among Luther's propositions condemned in the bull Exsurge Domine (1520) is this: "That heretics be burned is against the will of the Spirit" (Exsurge Domine, prop. 33). So a pope taught that burning heretics is according to the Spirit.
Answer: The text is real. But read how the bull condemns. It condemns Luther's propositions all together "as either heretical, scandalous, false, offensive to pious ears or seductive of simple minds" (Exsurge Domine), without saying which note fits which proposition. So it does not define, as a doctrine of faith, that heretics must be burned. What it upheld was the penal practice of that age, a practice Protestant Geneva also followed when it put Servetus to death. We do not defend that practice. The Church's doctrine, as an ecumenical council states it: "the doctrine of the Church that no one is to be coerced into faith has always stood firm" (Dignitatis Humanae 12). When James and John asked, "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?" the answer was: "Jesus turned and rebuked them" (Luke 9:54–55). The Church's repentance on the Day of Pardon is that same rebuke, received.
(d) "If the Pope apologized, the Church admits she was wrong. Then how is she the 'pillar and foundation of truth'?"
At its strongest: If Rome erred in practice for centuries, why trust her in doctrine?
Answer: Pope St. John Paul II asked forgiveness "for the past and present sins of her sons and daughters" (Day of Pardon, no. 3): sins of conduct, "violence some have used in the service of the truth." He retracted no article of the Creed. Scripture draws the same distinction at Antioch: St. Peter's conduct was "not on the right road in line with the truth of the gospel" (Galatians 2:14), but the truth of the Gospel was not in question. Only a Church that knows the difference between her members' sins and Christ's truth can repent without dissolving.
The Early Church Agrees
The earliest Christians never imagined a Church of the sinless.
- Pope St. Clement I (St. Clement of Rome) (Letter to the Corinthians, c. AD 96) writes to a church torn by "shameful and detestable sedition" (ch. 1), grieving at the report that "the most steadfast and ancient church of the Corinthians" should "engage in sedition against its presbyters" (ch. 47). The remedy was correction from Rome, not departure.
- St. Cyprian of Carthage (Epistle 50, c. AD 251): "For although there seem to be tares in the Church, yet neither our faith nor our charity ought to be hindered, so that because we see that there are tares in the Church we ourselves should withdraw from the Church: we ought only to labour that we may be wheat" (Epistle 50.3).
- St. Augustine of Hippo (On Baptism, Against the Donatists, c. AD 400) praises St. Cyprian because "he even put up with those who were manifestly bad," "lest that, by rooting out the tares before their time, the wheat should also have been rooted up" (Book 4, ch. 9).
- St. Augustine (City of God 18.49, written AD 413–426): "there are many reprobate mingled with the good, and both are gathered together by the gospel as in a drag net," and they swim together "until it is brought ashore, when the wicked must be separated from the good" (ccel.org).
The Donatists argued that sinful ministers meant the true Church was elsewhere. The Fathers answered from Christ's own parables.
Conclusion
Church history does not disprove the Catholic Church. It proves what Jesus said: weeds and wheat together until the harvest, a Judas among the Twelve, a St. Peter who falls and is restored to strengthen his brothers. The Catholic Church has confessed her children's sins, but she has never changed the faith she received, under saints or scoundrels. A merely human institution would hardly survive Borgia popes and its own members' crimes with its creed intact for two thousand years. The Catholic Church has, because "the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it."
If you are Protestant, we are not asking you to excuse any crime. We are asking you to apply the same standard to the Catholic Church that you apply to your own tradition, and then to ask which Church Christ promised to keep in the truth.
Come home. The sins of Catholics are real, but the Church that Christ has carried through them unbroken, still teaching what the apostles taught, is the Catholic Church. Christ did not found many churches. He founded one, on St. Peter and the apostles (Matthew 16:18), and that Church is the Catholic Church. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). If you are a baptized Christian, you already share "a certain, although imperfect, communion" with her (CCC 838). Every truth you already hold is a call to the rest of the way. Christ is calling you into the Catholic Church.
Your next step: Come to Mass this Sunday at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. Everyone is welcome; if you're not yet Catholic, pray with us but don't receive Communion yet. When you're ready to become Catholic, call the parish office and ask about OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. They will walk you through every step. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.
FAQ
Did the Inquisition kill millions? No. Scholarly estimates for the Spanish Inquisition's whole history range from about 3,000 to fewer than 10,000 executions (Ereticopedia). Each was a real wrong, and the Church has asked pardon.
Does papal infallibility mean the pope can't sin? No. It concerns only definitive teaching on faith or morals (CCC 891).
Then can Protestants be saved? Baptized Protestants are truly joined to Christ, in "a certain, although imperfect, communion" with the Catholic Church (CCC 838). But the Church teaches that "all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body" (CCC 846). Those who, "through no fault of their own," do not know the Church but seek God sincerely "may achieve eternal salvation" (CCC 847): a hope, not a guarantee. And membership alone saves no one: "one who does not however persevere in charity is not saved" (CCC 837). That is why we invite you into full communion.
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Matthew 7:15–16; Matthew 13:24–30, 47–49; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 28:20; Luke 9:54–55; Luke 22:31–34, 54–62; John 6:70–71; John 16:13; Acts 1:17; Acts 20:30; Galatians 2:11–14; 1 Timothy 3:15.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 816, 824, 827, 837, 838, 846, 847; 882, 889–891.
Church documents (vatican.va; papalencyclicals.net): Second Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae 10, 12 (1965); Pope St. John Paul II, Homily for the Day of Pardon (March 12, 2000); Universal Prayer, Day of Pardon (March 12, 2000); Pope St. John Paul II, Address to Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (May 4, 2001); Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience on St. Francis of Assisi (January 27, 2010); Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience on St. Catherine of Siena (November 24, 2010); Pope Leo X, Exsurge Domine (1520).
Church Fathers (newadvent.org; ccel.org): Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians 1, 47 (ANF vol. 9); Cyprian, Epistle 50 (ANF vol. 5); Augustine, On Baptism, Against the Donatists 4.9 (NPNF1 vol. 4); Augustine, City of God 18.49 (NPNF1 vol. 2).
Protestant sources: Westminster Confession of Faith 25.5–6 (Orthodox Presbyterian Church).
History: Britannica, "Alexander VI"; Britannica, "First Crusade"; Britannica, "Fourth Crusade"; Britannica, "Inquisition: Early modern Europe"; Britannica, "Spanish Inquisition"; Britannica, "Tomás de Torquemada"; Britannica, "Anabaptists"; Britannica, "Michael Servetus"; Britannica, "Salem witch trials"; Tomasz Karlikowski, "Number of victims of the Spanish Inquisition," Ereticopedia; Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Sixtus IV" (encyclopedia.com); Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), "Crusades, The".