On this day - April 20th, 1233 - dear old Pope Gregory IX issued the papal bull (Livet ad capiendos) that put the Dominicans in charge of the very first Inquisition.
Surprisingly it took nearly 20 years before the church learned how to make money from the enterprise. It was May 15th, 1252, when Pope Innocent IV issued another papal bull (Ad extirpanda) which allowed the church to confiscate money and property from anyone found guilty of heresy.
Always a thinker, the completely mis-named Pope Innocent IV, used the same papal bull to increase the number of guilty verdicts (and thus church profits) by allowing his Inquisitors to torture all suspects.
3. ...whoever shall find the heretical man or woman shall boldly seize, with impunity, all his or their goods, and freely carry them off, to belong to the remover with full right...
26. The head of state or ruler must force all the heretics whom he has in custody, provided he does so without killing them or breaking their arms or legs, as actual robbers and murderers of souls and thieves of the sacraments of God and Christian faith, to confess their errors and accuse other heretics whom they know, and specify their motives, and those whom they have seduced, and those who have lodged them and defended them,as thieves and robbers of material goods are made to accuse their accomplices and confess the crimes they have committed.
http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/
You'd think the churches would be proud to remember the commencement of the Inquisitions which formed such a big part of their history over the next 600 years but, for some reason, they prefer not to talk about it. Gutless Wonders!
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