Vatican Reexamines 1415 Execution
With strong support from Pope John Paul II, the Vatican is taking a new look at the Inquisition’s condemnation of the 15th century priest, theologian and church reformer Jan Hus as a heretic.
About 40 scholars from Czech, Polish, German and Romanian universities met at the Vatican recently for an ecumenical four-day symposium on the views for which Hus died at the stake in 1415.
The pope has called on Catholics to acknowledge the church’s mistakes of the past, including judgments of the Inquisition, to mark the start of the third millennium of Christianity.
A renowned preacher and writer on the faculty of the University of Prague, Hus ran afoul of the Inquisition because of his criticism of the church hierarchy.
His death at the stake set off a series of religious wars that lasted for decades and left Catholics in the minority in Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic. The Hussites helped to pave the way for the Protestant Reformation.
“Today, on the eve of the Great Jubilee, I feel the need to express deep regret for the cruel death inflicted on Jan Hus,” the pope told the scholars.
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