The Vatican corridors have echoed with the memories of torture, imprisonment and burning heretics as Pope John Paul asked forgiveness for the actions of the Church in the Inquisition.

The Inquisition was created by Pope Gregory IX in 1233 in order to curb heresy but soon it had expanded its remit and was banning books, burning witches, torturing and killing those suspected of heresy. The Inquisition reached the peak of its power in the 16th century.

In June of this year (2004), the Pope repeated a phrase from a document issued four years ago that asked for pardon 'for errors committed in the service of truth through the use of methods that had nothing to do with the Gospel.' Further, he stated that the forgiveness was also for 'the wounds to the (collective) memory that followed.'

At the same conference that the Pope made these requests for forgiveness, it was reported that less than 1.8 per cent of those investigated by the Spanish Inquisition were killed - if you compare this to the 10 per cent of the population in Lichtenstein in Germany that were killed for their belief in witchcraft, then it shows some truly alarming truths hiding just below the surface.

Professor Agostino Borromeo said that fewer people were actually burnt than was actually believed. Those that repented their sins were first strangled to death before being their bodies were burnt as 'it was a more humane and less agonising way to die.' Either way, they still died!

Cardinal Georges Cottier, when asked why past popes were not condemned for their sanction of the Inquisition, simply stated:

'When we ask for forgiveness we don't condemn. We are all conditioned by the mentality of our times. Fifty years from now we may be accused of not seeing certain things.'