I HAVE FELT PSYCHIC SHAME FOR THE SPANISH INQUISITION

FOR YEARS...

BOTH AS A ROMAN CATHOLIC AND A PERSON OF SPANISH DESCENT, THE SPANISH INQUISITION HAS WEIGHED ON MY SOUL.

MY BELIEF IN REINCARNATION (WHICH SOME MAY SAY DIRECTLY CONFLICTS WITH ROMAN CATHOLIC TENETS) HAS MADE ME FEEL THAT I WAS PRESENT DURING THE INQUISITION, (PERHAPS IN SPAIN, PERHAPS IN FRANCE) IN ONE OF MY LIFETIMES.

I ASK YOU, MY READERS, WHAT DOES A CHILD OF THE 20TH CENTURY HAVE TO DO WITH CRUELTY PERPETRATED CENTURIES AGO?

BUT THE ANSWER IS, THAT I CANNOT IN GOOD CONSCIENCE SAY, "OH THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO, LIKE SLAVERY, AND THEREFORE, NOTHING TO D0 WITH ME."

BUT IT WAS MY ANCESTORS, BOTH SPIRITUAL AND GENETICALLY, WHO KILLED HUNDREDS, PERHAPS THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, IN HORRIBLE WAYS, IN THE NAME OF RELIGION.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DURING THE TIME OF QUEEN ISABELLA, (MAY SHE STAY IN HELL, OR SHEOL FOR ALL TIME) WAS NOT ALLOWED TO SHED BLOOD DURING THE QUESTIONING OR EVEN DURING THE EXECUTION OF, SO-CALLED HERETICS, APOSTATES, UN RENOUNCED JEWS AND HECK, PEOPLE WHO WERE DENOUNCED BY NEIGHBORS, FOR WHATEVER REASON.

THE INQUISITORS THEREFORE, HAD VARIOUS WAYS OF TORTURING CONFESSIONS OUT OF PEOPLE, CONFESSIONS THAT I MYSELF WOULD HAVE MADE, IN THIS DAY AND AGE, GIVEN THE HORRIFIC METHODS USED.

THEY TORE OUT FINGERNAILS, THEY SLID SLIVERS OF METAL OR GLASS UNDER FINGERNAILS, THEY BURNED, THEY WERE PUT TO THE RACK, (THAT WAS PARTICULARLY GRUESOME, SINCE SHOULDERS AND JOINTS WOULD SEPARATE AS THEY WERE BEING PULLED IN SEPARATE DIRECTIONS ON A RACK WITH A SYSTEM OF PULLEYS).

PRETTY MUCH, ONCE THE SPANISH INQUISITORS GOT THEIR HANDS ON YOU, YOU WERE DONE FOR, SINCE THE CHANCES OF ONE COMING OUT OF THE CHAMBERS ALIVE WERE SLIM TO NONE, NEVER MIND HEALTHY OF MIND AND BODY.

CRIPPLED, HALF INSANE, INSENSATE, STARVED, BRUISED, BATTERED AND HAVING DELIVERED ONESELF OF THE WILDEST CONFESSIONS UNDER THE PAIN OF TORTURE, THE VICTIM (AND i DO MEAN VICTIM) WOULD EITHER BE BURNED OR HANGED.

IF YOU CONFESSED, REPENTED AND RECEIVED RITES OF FORGIVENESS FROM THE CHURCH (OH INIQUITOUS RELIGION) YOU USUALLY DID NOT HAVE TO SUFFER THE EXTREMITY OF FEELING YOUR BODY BURNING AS YOU STILL LIVED, SCREAMING FOR GOD'S MERCY.

YOU COULD BE HANGED INSTEAD, OH JOY.

SO TODAY I WONDER, HOW IN GOD'S NAME, COULD ANYONE CALL THE SPANISH INQUISITION (STARTED AND PERFECTED IN SPAIN BY THE AFOREMENTIONED, INFAMOUS, iSABELLA OF CASTILE), A WAY OF PRESERVING THE FAITH.

AND WHERE WAS THE MERCY THAT THOSE HOODED MONSTERS URGED THOSE POOR PEOPLE TO ACCEPT.

THEY WERE SOCIOPATHS, SADISTS, WHO HAD NO QUALMS ABOUT HEARING SCREAMS OF PAIN, SOMETHING OVER WHICH NORMAL, FEELING, MORAL PEOPLE WOULD CRINGE.

I KNOW I WAS NOT AN INQUISITOR, AND I AM SURE I WAS NOT ISABELLA OR HER CONFESSOR AND HEAD TORTURE GUY, TORQUEMADA, (MAY THEIR SOULS NEVER BE ALLOWED TO REJOIN THE COSMOS, IF THEY HAD SOULS AND I BELIEVE THEY DID NOT) BUT WHAT IF I WAS A PERSON WHO COULD NOT HELP SOMEONE I KNEW TO BE INNOCENT?

WHAT IF COWARDICE PREVENTED ME FROM SPEAKING OUT?

I AM ASHAMED.

AND FOR ROMAN CATHOLICS EVERYWHERE, I AM ASHAMED.

ISABELLA, YOU WERE A TOOL OF DEMONS, YOU YOURSELF ARE A DEMON AND YOUR CONFESSOR, TORQUEMADA, IS A BIGGER DEMON.

EXPELLING THE MOORS, WELL THAT WAS PURE RACISM, AS WAS EXPELLING THE JEWS, ALL OF THAT BAD ENOUGH, BECAUSE HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE MOORS AND THE JEWS, SPAIN WOULD HAVE REMAINED A LITTLE BACKWATER PROVINCE AND IN THE STONE AGE.

THEY BROUGHT COMMERCE, CULTURE, ARCHITECTURE, MEDICINE AND SCIENCE TO THAT LITTLE BACKWATER PROVINCE THAT WAS ACTUALLY FIRST INHABITED BY THE BASQUES, THOSE PROBABLE DESCENDANTS OF CRO MAGNON MAN AND PRESENT AS LONG AGO AS PALEOLITHIC TIMES.

BUT TO THEN TORTURE AND KILL YOUR OWN PEOPLE AND FORCE THE JEWS TO EAT PORK (WITNESS TODAY THE SPANISH FASCINATION AND TASTE FOR PIG IN ALL ITS FORMS) TRULY WAS EVIL.

NOT SATISFIED TO KILL HER OWN AND BECOME A MASS MURDERER, (THAT'S RIGHT i SAID MASS MURDERER, KING JUAN CARLOS OF SPAIN) LITTLE LIZZIE DECIDED TO ALLOW THE SLAUGHTER OF MORE PEOPLE SHE HAD NEVER EVEN SEEN, IN THE NEW WORLD.

WORKING THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS TO DEATH IN ORDER TO SECURE GOLD AND SILVER, ISABELLA PROCURED A FORTUNE IN METALS AND OTHER RESOURCES, AND HER STUPID (THAT'S RIGHT i SAID STUPID, KING JUAN CARLOS OF SPAIN) HUSBAND, SQUANDERED IT IN POINTLESS WARS AND GREED.

I AM NO FAN OF ENGLAND, AFTER WHAT THEY DID TO THE SCOTS, CELTS, WELSH, INDIANS AND CHINESE, (THAT IS PERHAPS FOR A FUTURE BLOG) BUT I HAVE TO SAY MY SOUL SHOUTED "HURRAH" WHEN THE SPANISH ARMADA WAS SUNK BY A STRONG WIND, THE MIGHTY OF THE SPANISH MAIN SMASHED AGAINST THE ROCKS OF THE ATLANTIC.

I AM SORRY SO MANY SPANISH LIVES WERE LOST, BUT REALLY, PRIDE DOES GO BEFORE THE FALL.

AS AN ASIDE, ISABELLA AND FERDINAND'S DAUGHTER, JUANA, WAS CALLED "LA LOCA" THE CRAZY LADY, PROBABLY BECAUSE OF THE YEARS OF INBREEDING THE SPANISH ROYALTY, HAD ACCOMPLISHED.

SO PAYBACK IS A BITCH AND REVENGE IS A MOTHERFUCKER, AS THEY SAY.

TWO LAST THINGS:

I CALL FOR THAT NAZI POPE, BENEDICT, TO EXCOMMUNICATE ISABELLA, TORQUEMADA, JUNIPERO SERRA AND ALL THOSE OTHER SO-CALLED PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS FRAUDS WHO INVOLVED THEMSELVES IN THE TORTURE OF THEIR FELLOW MEN, AND ALSO TO APOLOGIZE TO THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

i KNOW YOU MOTHERFUCKERS HAVE RECORDS; RELEASE THEM AND LET US SEE AND DO NOT, AS YOU TRIED A FEW YEARS AGO, TRY TO REVISE HISTORY AND TELL US THAT MOST PEOPLE SWEPT UP IN THE INQUISITION WERE NEVER TORTURED OR KILLED, YOU BIG FAT LIAR.

SECONDLY, I ASK THAT ROMAN CATHOLICS EVERYWHERE TRY TO MAKE UP FOR WHAT OUR RELIGION HAS DONE TO OTHERS BY DOING GOOD TODAY.

YOU KNOW, I NOTICE THAT SEVERAL CHURCH GROUPS IN MY AREA HELP TO FEED THE WORKING POOR, THE LESS FORTUNATE, THOUGH IN THIS DAY AND AGE, THAT IS BECOMING A LARGE GROUP INDEED.

THOSE CHURCHES ARE ALL PROTESTANT. NOT ONE CATHOLIC CHURCH, (AND i MEAN YOU, ST. CATHERINE'S ON SANTIAGO STREET IN OLD TOWN) HOLDS A RESCUE MISSION OR RUNS A FOOD PANTRY.

HEY BENEDICT, YOU WANT TO DO SOME GOOD, YOU HITLER YOUTH BASTID? PULL SOME MONEY OUT OF YOUR ASS AND GIVE TO THE POOR.

SELL SOME OF YOUR SILKEN ROBES AND GOLD CRAP, YOU CHEAP SKINFLINT GERMANIC THUG.

OH YEAH, AND ALSO?

QUIT CALLING BISHOPS AND CARDINALS "PRINCES" OF THE CHURCH, CAUSE THIS AIN'T NO DAMN KINGDOM.

GEEZ, ELITIST AND MONARCHICAL MUCH?

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW....

ONE LAST LITTLE NOTE: I BELIEVE THAT NOT FOR NOTHING WAS CARDINAL RATZINGER, AKA BENEDICT THE NAZI, THE HEAD OF THE MODERN-DAY CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH THE OFFICE THAT WAS ONCE THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY INQUISITION.

HOLY MY ASS.