Inquisition

The term Inquisition can refer to any one of several institutions charged with trying and convicting heretics (or other offenders against canon law) within the Roman Catholic Church. It may refer to[1]:
an ecclesiastical tribunal
the institution of the Roman Catholic Church for combating or suppressing heresy
a number of historical expurgation movements against heresy (orchestrated by the Roman Catholic Church)
the trial of an individual accused of heresy.
King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile set up the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 with the approval of Pope Sixtus IV. In contrast to the previous inquisitions, it operated completely under royal authority, though staffed by secular clergy and orders, and independently of the Holy See. It targeted primarily converts from Judaism (Conversos and Marranos) and from Islam (Moriscos or secret Moors) — both formed large groups still residing in Spain after the end of the Moorish control of Spain — who came under suspicion of either continuing to adhere to their old religion (often after having converted under duress) or of having fallen back into it. The Inquisition continued to function in North America until the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821). In South America Simón Bolívar abolished the Inquisition; in Spain itself the institution survived until 1834.
In 2000 Pope John Paul II called for an "Inquisition Symposium" and opened the Vatican to 30 external historians. Their findings called into question certain long-held beliefs. It emerged that more women accused of "witchcraft" died in the Protestant countries than under the Inquisition. For example, the Inquisition burned 59 women in Spain, 36 in Italy and four in Portugal, while in Europe civil justice put to trial close to 100,000 women and burned 50,000 of them.[11][12] Some 26,000 persons condemned as witches died in Germany.[13]