Dr. Thomas Madden

And they would be let go.

In fact, that's what happened in the vast, vast, well over 90% of the cases.

People would just say, oh, I didn't know.

I'm sorry.

And that would be the end of it.

That meant that not only could you ensure that the person was a heretic or not before they went to the courts, but you could also give them the opportunity to get out of it and to amend their ways or just correct an error.

That meant that what the Inquisition was doing was it was interposing itself between the accused and the court.

And they then could examine the issue.

It was very, very, very rare in the Middle Ages for somebody to actually be moved on

Almost all of them were acquitted.

In fact, royal courts were constantly complaining about how the inquisitors were a bunch of softies that let everybody off, and nobody would ever get through to their courts.

There was only a few ways that you could get passed through.

The most common would be if you were what's called a relapsed heretic, which meant you are a real heretic.

And when you came before this court, you lied to us.

And then as soon as you left, you just went back and did the exact same thing, even though you know it's not true.

Even still, the church's position is not that the church never burned anyone at the stake.

It's not them burning people.

What they're saying is, okay, look, the only thing standing between you and that pyre is us.

So if you're really going to tell us you're a heretic—

then we're just going to get out of the way.