How can you believe in a Church that carried out the Crusades, the Inquisition, and sexual abuse?

🔥The question: “Violence and abuse happened in the name of the Church, so how can you call it a holy Church?”

🛡️The Church's answer: Christ is holy, but everyone in the Church, clergy included, is a sinner who must repent and be purified without end. The history that unfolded under the names of the Crusades and the Inquisition differs in complicated ways from era to era and case to case, but the killing, coercion, torture, and injustice that Christians committed are sins against the Gospel. Above all, the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable people, and its cover-up, are horrific crimes and cannot be excused. There were also cases where Church leaders and institutions took part in violence or condoned and concealed abuse, and that institutional responsibility has to be made clear too. Doctrine doesn't make those crimes good, and the crimes were not the result of faithfully following Christ's teaching.

🧐If they press further: “Is an apology the end of it?” — No. You have to listen to victims and support their safety and healing, investigate the facts and hold people accountable under civil, criminal, and canon law, and make reporting and prevention systems actually work. The wrongs of history have to be recorded and learned from as well. “The Church is human too, so it makes mistakes” must not be used to make the harm look small.

🌱Remember this: If someone hurt your body or your mind or forced you to keep a secret, it is not your fault. Go somewhere safe and ask a trusted adult and your local child-protection or investigating authorities for help as soon as you can. If the first adult you tell doesn't help you or doesn't believe you, tell another adult or a protection agency again. Even if you couldn't say it right away, it is not your fault, and don't try to handle it alone or gather evidence yourself.

✨In one sentence: “Violence and abuse by people in the Church are real sins and real crimes, and they are not something to hide. Holiness isn't a boast about having no faults; it's the call to keep correcting ourselves in truth, justice, and repentance, following Christ.”