PIUS V

Admiral Coligny was a leading French Protestant. He was murdered along with 50,000 Protestants by the French Catholics in what has come to be known as Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. Earlier in his career Pius V had been the an inquisitor or the Inquisition and was appointed “Inquisitor General For All Christendom,” so he had an anti-Protestant background. Incredibly enough, he was beatified and canonized a saint despite—some say because of—his participation in and encouragement murders of non-Catholics and even Catholics who happened to dissent on some aspect of theology. It is not clear whether the Pope knew in advance of the planned massacre or whether he or his representatives had any part in the planning of it. Since the end of the Second World War, Popes have been in the forefront of protest and moral condemnation of religious or ethnic atrocities, and it is hard for most of us to conceive that a Pope could countenance the murder of 50,000 souls by his faithful followers.

Admiral Coligny was a leading French Protestant. He was murdered along with 50,000 Protestants by the French Catholics in what has come to be known as Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. Earlier in his career Pius V had been the an inquisitor or the Inquisition and was appointed “Inquisitor General For All Christendom,” so he had an anti-Protestant background. Incredibly enough, he was beatified and canonized a saint despite—some say because of—his participation in and encouragement murders of non-Catholics and even Catholics who happened to dissent on some aspect of theology. It is not clear whether the Pope knew in advance of the planned massacre or whether he or his representatives had any part in the planning of it. Since the end of the Second World War, Popes have been in the forefront of protest and moral condemnation of religious or ethnic atrocities, and it is hard for most of us to conceive that a Pope could countenance the murder of 50,000 souls by his faithful followers.