The 22nd June 1633 saw Galileo Galilei, the famed scientist, was found “vehemently suspect of heresy” by the Papal Inquisition and forced to recant his belief in the heliocentric universe originally put forward by Copernicus ninety years previously.
On the 27th April 1509, Pope Julius II excommunicated the entire republic of Venice.
On the 23rd March 1540, Waltham Abbey in Essex became the last abbey to be dissolved by Henry VIII.
Relations between Catholicism and Judaism cover a long, complex and violent history in which Christians revered the Jewish scriptures yet held Jews collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.
On the 27th November 1095, Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade with an impassioned speech at the Council of Clermont.
The shortest papacy in history ended after just twelve days following the death of Pope Urban VII, shortly after he introduced Europe’s first smoking ban.
Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, Pius IX’s election by the Papal conclave of 1846 came at a time of significant political unrest across Europe.
On the 15th June 1215, Magna Carta – one of the most famous documents in the world – was approved by King John when he added his seal to it in a field at Runnymede near Windsor in England.
On the 18th March 1314 Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was executed on the orders of King Philip IV.
Pope Pius IV issued a Papal bull confirming the decrees of the Council of Trent that defined Catholic doctrine in the face of the Protestant Reformation.
30th September 2020
27th September 2020
11th November 2018
9th November 2019
1st September 2018
