Vatican joins Italian project to inventory Inquisition archives

Published: 2004-11-09

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To assist international research on "the control of religious ideas in medieval and modern Europe," the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is participating in an inventory of archival material on the Inquisition. Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the doctrinal congregation, signed a collaboration agreement Nov. 9 with representatives of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Goods and the University of Trieste's Center for Research on the Inquisition. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the project will attempt to catalog documents held in church, state and private archives, as well as Italian and foreign libraries. The documents will include those related to the Roman Inquisition, which began in the 16th century, the earlier Spanish Inquisition and similar trials conducted by secular authorities for "heresy, witchcraft and other crimes against the faith," the Vatican spokesman said.

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