Church Corruption

Revolts and heresies were repressed with unbelievable ferocity. In 1233 Pope Gregory IX founded the Inquisition. A later Pope, Innocent VIII, in 1485 ordered the extermination of the Vaudois (or Waldensian) heretics of Piedmont, promising remission of sins to all those who would kill the heretics--an ascetic sect protesting against the worldliness and corruption of the Church.