w no other means of
bringing certain punishment on the Bishops who had taken part in the
insurrection of the _Communidades_ (or communes who were struggling for
their rights and liberties), he chose to have them judged by the
Inquisition....

"It was in spirit and tendency a political institution. _The Pope had an
interest in thwarting it, and he did so_; but the King had an interest in
constantly upholding it."(321)

That the Inquisition acted independently of the Holy See, and that even
the Catholic hierarchy fell under the ban of this royal tribunal, is also
apparent from the following fact: After the convening of the Council of
Trent, Bartholomew Caranza, Archbishop of Toledo, was arrested by the
Inquisition on a charge of heresy, and his release from prison could not
be obtained either by the interposition of Pius IV. or the remonstrance of
the Council.

It is true that Sixtus IV., yielding to the importunities of Queen
Isabella, consented to its establishment, being advised that it was
necessary for the preservation of order in the kingdom; but in 1481, the
year following its introduction, when the Jews complained to him of its
severity, the same Pontiff issued a Bull against the Inquisitors, as
Prescott informs us, in which "he rebuked their intemperate zeal and even
threatened them with deprivation." He wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella that
"mercy towards the guilty was more pleasing to God than the severity which
they were using."

When the Pope could not eradicate the evil he encouraged the sufferers to
flee to Rome, where they found an asylum, and where he took the fugitives
under his protection. In two years he received four hundred and fifty
refugees from Spain. Did the Pontiff send them back, or did he inflict
vengeance on them at home? Far from it; they were restored to all the
rights of citizens. How can we imagine that the Pope would encourage in
Spain the legalized murder of men whom he protected from violence in his
own city, where he might have crushed them with impunity? I can find no
authenticated instance of any Pope putting to death, in his own dominions,
a single individual for his religious belief.

Moreover, sometimes the Pope, when he could not reach the victims,
censured and excommunicated the Inquisitor, and protected the children of
those whose property was confiscated to the crown.

After a struggle he succeeded in preventing the Spanish government from
establishing its Inquisition