Editing Medieval Inquisition (section)

===Torture===
Like the inquisitorial process itself, torture was an ancient Roman legal practice commonly used in secular courts. 

On May 15, 1252, [[Pope Innocent IV]] issued a [[papal bull]] entitled ''[[Ad extirpanda]]'', which authorized the limited use of torture by inquisitors. Much of the brutality commonly associated with the Inquisition was actually previously common in secular courts, but prohibited under the Inquisition, including torture methods that resulted in bloodshed, miscarriages, mutilation or death. Also, torture could be performed only once, and for a limited duration.

In preparation for the Jubilee in 2000, the Vatican opened the archives of the Holy Office (the modern successor to the Inquisition) to a team of 30 scholars from around the world. According to the governor general of the [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre]], recent studies "seem to indicate" that "torture and the death penalty were not applied with the pitiless rigor" often ascribed to the Inquisition.<ref name="nyt1998">{{Cite news|last=Stanley|first=Alessandra|date=1998-10-31|title=Vatican Is Investigating the Inquisition, in Secret|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/31/world/vatican-is-investigating-the-inquisition-in-secret.html|access-date=2020-06-23|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2016-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130184609/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/31/world/vatican-is-investigating-the-inquisition-in-secret.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Other methods such as threats and imprisonment seem to have proven more effective.