11. What does the Bible say about Babylon the Great, and why?

¹¹ Regarding religious Babylon, God’s Word says: “In her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.” (Revelation 18:24) How are this world’s religions responsible for the blood of all those slaughtered? In that all these religions​—Christendom’s churches and non-Christian religions alike—​have supported, condoned, or even taken the lead in the wars of the nations; they have also persecuted and killed God-fearing people who disagreed with them.

A God-Dishonoring Record

12. Why are the clergy of Christendom more reprehensible than other religious leaders?

¹² Christendom’s clergy are more reprehensible in shedding blood than other religious leaders. Why? Because in addition to taking God’s name upon themselves, they have taken Christ’s too. They thereby obligated themselves to follow the teachings of Jesus. (John 15:10-14) But they have not followed those teachings, thus bringing great reproach upon both God and Christ. The responsibility for bloodshed by the clergy has been both direct, in the Crusades, other religious wars, inquisitions, and persecutions, and indirect, in condoning wars in which members of the churches killed their fellowman in other lands.

13. For what were the clergy responsible from the 11th to the 13th century?

¹³ For example, from the 11th to the 13th century, the clergy of Christendom introduced the Crusades. These resulted in horrible bloodshed and pillage in the name of God and of Christ. Hundreds of thousands were killed. The Crusades included the senseless deaths of thousands of children who were induced to participate in the Children’s Crusade of the year 1212.

14, 15. How does a Catholic author comment on what the Catholic Church introduced in the 13th century?

¹⁴ In the 13th century, the Roman Catholic Church officially sanctioned another God-dishonoring horror​—the Inquisition. It began in Europe and spread to the Americas, lasting for over six centuries. Originated and backed by the papacy, it was a murderous attempt to torture and stamp out all who disagreed with the church. While the church had previously persecuted non-Catholics, the Inquisition was far more extensive in scope.

¹⁵ Peter De Rosa, who states that he is a “patriotic Catholic,” says in his recent book Vicars of Christ​—The Dark Side of the Papacy: “The church was responsible for persecuting Jews, for the Inquisition, for slaughtering heretics by the thousand, for reintroducing torture into Europe as part of the judicial process. . . . Popes appointed and sacked even emperors, demanded that they impose Christianity on their subjects under the threat of torture and death. . . . The cost to the Gospel message was horrendous.” The only “crime” of some who were murdered was that they possessed a Bible.

16, 17. What comments are made about the Inquisition?

¹⁶ Regarding Pope Innocent III of the early 13th century, De Rosa states: “It has been reckoned that in the last and most savage persecution under [Roman] Emperor Diocletian [third century] about two thousand Christians perished, worldwide. In the first vicious incident of Pope Innocent’s Crusade [against “heretics” in France] ten times that number of people were slaughtered. . . . It comes as a shock to discover that, at a stroke, a pope killed far more Christians than Diocletian. . . . [Innocent] had no qualms about using Christ’s name to do everything Christ objected to.”

¹⁷ De Rosa notes that “in the pope’s name, [the inquisitors] were responsible for the most savage and sustained onslaught on human decency in the history of the race.” Of Dominican inquisitor Torquemada in Spain, he says: “Appointed in 1483, he ruled tyrannically for fifteen years. His victims numbered over 114,000 of whom 10,220 were burned.”

18. How does a writer characterize the Inquisition, and what reason does he give for its continuing for over six centuries?

¹⁸ This writer concludes: “The record of the Inquisition would be embarrassing for any organization; for the Catholic church, it is devastating. . . . What history shows is that, for more than six centuries without a break, the papacy was the sworn enemy of elementary justice. Of eighty popes in a line from the thirteenth century on, not one of them disapproved of the theology and apparatus of Inquisition. On the contrary, one after another added his own cruel touches to the workings of this deadly machine. The mystery is: how could popes continue in this practical heresy for generation after generation? How could they deny at every point the Gospel of Jesus?” He answers: “Pontiffs preferred to contradict the Gospel than an ‘inerrant’ predecessor, for that would bring down the papacy itself.”

19. What other lawless activity was condoned by most of the clergy?

¹⁹ Also lawless was the part that the clergy played in the violent institution of slavery. The nations of Christendom kidnapped many thousands of Africans, took them far from their own lands, and for centuries brutalized them physically and mentally as slaves. Relatively few of the clergy class actively opposed. Some of them even claimed that it was God’s will.​—See Matthew 7:12.

Bloodguilt in the 20th Century

20. How has the bloodguilt of the man of lawlessness reached a peak in this century?

²⁰ The bloodguilt of the man of lawlessness reached a peak in our century. The clergy have backed wars that have taken tens of millions of lives, the worst wars in all history. They supported both sides in the two world wars, in which people of the same religion, “brothers,” killed one another. For instance, in World War II, French and American Catholics killed German and Italian Catholics; British and American Protestants killed German Protestants. At times, they killed others who were not only of the same religion but also of the same national background. The two world wars erupted in the heart of Christendom and would not have been possible had the clergy obeyed the commandment to love, and taught their followers to do the same.

21. What do secular sources say about the clergy’s involvement in war?

²¹ The New York Times affirmed: “In the past local Catholic hierarchies almost always supported the wars of their nations, blessing troops and offering prayers for victory, while another group of bishops on the other side publicly prayed for the opposite outcome. . . . The contradiction between the Christian spirit and the conduct of war . . . seems increasingly clear to many, as weapons grow more brutal.” And U.S.News & World Report noted: “The prestige of Christianity in the world has been gravely impaired by the frequency with which the so-called Christian nations have used violence.”

22. For what else are the clergy responsible in our time?

²² Too, while there is no official Inquisition today, the clergy have used the arm of the State to persecute “prophets” and “holy ones” who differ from them. They have pressured political leaders to ‘contrive mischief under cover of law.’ In this way, they have caused or approved the banning, imprisonment, beating, torture, and even death of God-fearing people in our century.​—Revelation 17:6; Psalm 94:20, The New English Bible.

Called to Account

23. Why will God call the man of lawlessness to account?

²³ Truly, in false religion there is found the blood of prophets, and of holy ones, and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth. (Revelation 18:24) Since the worst bloodshed has arisen in Christendom, the guilt of the clergy is the greatest. How aptly the Bible labels them a “man of lawlessness”! But God’s Word also states: “Do not be misled: God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7) So God will call the lawless clergy to account.

24. What world-shaking events are soon to take place?

²⁴ Jesus said: “Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23) And he declared: “Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7:19)

An evidence of the clergy’s bad fruitage is their enormous bloodguilt. For centuries they have supported crusades, inquisitions, and wars that have shed the blood of millions. They have prayed for and blessed both sides in wars in which members of their own religions have killed one another. In contrast, the apostle Paul was able to state: “I am clean from the blood of all men.” (Acts 20:26) The clergy are not. To such ones God declares: “Even though you make many prayers, I am not listening; with bloodshed your very hands have become filled.”​—Isaiah 1:15.