Apparently the "panties on the head" minimize-the-prisoner-abuse talking points are working so well that W passed along the template to the Pope during his trip to the Vatican last week.
Quote:
Vatican says torture, burning at stake during Inquisition less widespread than thought
Torture, burning at the stake and other punishment for the faithful condemned as witches or heretics by church tribunals during the centuries-long Inquisition was not as widespread as commonly believed, the Vatican said Tuesday....
Borromeo, curator of the work, said, for example, that while there were some 125,000 trials of suspected heretics in Spain, research found that about 1 percent of the defendants were executed, far fewer than commonly believed. Many of the burnings at the stake which took place during the centuries of the Inquisition actually were carried out by non-church tribunals, experts told reporters.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/06/15/international1025EDT0514.DTL
