http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RMNEWS_DAILY_EMAILS/message/24117
VATICAN documents have come to light showing that the wholesale
massacre of the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages for alleged "heresy,
idolatry and sexual perversion" - an episode still shrouded in mystery - took
place even though the Pope had exonerated them in a secret trial.
The revelation will put pressure on the present Pope, who has asked
the Muslim world for forgiveness for the Crusades, to apologise for the
persecution of one of the main Crusading orders as well. The Templars, whose
legendary power and wealth still exert a fascination, were disbanded by Pope
Clement V at the Council of Vienne in France in 1312.
snip
The Pope had accepted the Knights' explanation that the charges
against them of sodomy and blasphemy were due to a misunderstanding of arcane
rituals behind closed doors which had their origins in the Crusaders' bitter
struggle against the Muslims, or Saracens. These included "denying Christ and
spitting on the Cross three times", as well as "kissing other men's behinds".
Adriano Forgione, editor of Hera, said that these were intended to simulate the
kind of humiliation and torture that a Crusader might be subjected to by the
Saracens if captured. They were taught how to abuse their own religion "with the
mind only and not with the heart".
The Knights Templar - properly called The Poor Knights of Christ and
the Temple of Solomon - were founded during the early Crusades in the 12th
century, when they protected pilgrims to the Holy Land, together with the
Hospitallers (or Knights of St John). The Templars were so called because they
were given part of the former Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem as their
headquarters.
Noting that de Molay and the Knights had asked his pardon, the Pope
wrote: "We hereby decree that they are absolved by the church and may again
receive Christian sacraments." Signor Forgione said that the Pope had failed to
make this absolution public because the scandal of the Templars had aroused
extreme passions and he feared a church schism. Philip IV had de Molay and other
Templar leaders put to death before the Pope's verdict could be published, and
it was subsequently lost.
* * * * *
Our TemplarScribe fills in some of the missing parts of this story in the following article
Posted By: TemplarScribe
Date: Thursday, 4 April 2002, 2:02 a.m.
About this 'lost parchment' from the Vatican archives---It seems as though the paleontologist in question may have possibly confused the terms 'verdict', 'exoneration', and 'absolution'. So, it appears that there was no actual papal 'exoneration' of the Templar Order itself, but the papal 'absolution' of specific individuals, by this document. (They are NOT the same). There are specific & complex legal issues relating to not only the church at the time, but also to the Templar Order's medieval Charter, as well, that need to be taken into account here.
This 1308 meeting between the cardinals and five imprisoned Templar leaders was not a "trial"--- secret or otherwise. This mtg. was to seek information for the papal Commission inquiring into the (trumped-up) charges against the Templars. The Pope's papal commission had its own independent legal procedures from the French King's main efforts. In fact, the Pope and the king did not often see eye-to-eye in how to go about questioning the Templars, etc., and the Pope is known to have been unhappy on certain occasions, as he felt that the French king was trying to usurp his authority in a number of areas, involving charges against an Order of the church.
Furiously objecting to the 'arrest' of the Templars as an infringement upon papal perogative, Clement V had sent three of his own cardinals to Paris to interview the imprisoned leaders, in order to try and clarify exactly what was happening about these charges, because he didn't necessarily trust what all the French king was doing. Probably due to great duress from imprisonment and unthinkable torture(s), in 1308 these five Templar leaders (& other knights, too) had essentially "retracted" their earlier retraction of their confessions---in other words, perhaps having lost faith in the Church's ultimate ability to protect them by this point, they appear to have returned to their original confessions.
Having so 'confessed', (undoubtedly under great duress) they then asked to be reconciled to the Church, which may not be all that surprising, given that they were devout Christian warrior monks. It appears that what the Pope did at this point, was to personally forgive and 'absolve' these five individual men from their sins. But, this was NOT a papal 'verdict' on the Order as a whole. Put another way, this act of papal forgiveness for the individuals involved cannot be considered as identical to an 'exoneration' of the Order as a whole.
But,unfortunately, after they had'retracted' their earlier retractions, they could now be legally considered as 'relapsed heretics' and so subject to execution. Shortly after this meeting took place, these five leaders were then removed to the dungeons at Chinon, where they languished in prison.
Later, in 1314, two of these five leaders---including Grand Master de Molay and his Treasurer, Geoffrey de Charney---facing the prospect of continuing horrible life imprisonment, again retracted their confessions---i.e., declaring the ultimate innocence of the Order. This infuriated the French king, and on that very day, Philip IV (unjustly) ordered them burned at the stake. And the rest is history...
It would be helpful to see the actual Latin text and know the precise date of the document before going any further...but, overall,
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=18704
