Now the Church usually was quite skeptical about claims that someone was a witch. The witch hunting frenzy was a post reformation occurrence that affected mostly Germany in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. I like CS Lewis’ comment about witches:
“Three hundred years ago people in England were putting witches to death. Was that what you call the ‘Rule of Human Nature or Right Conduct?’ But surely the reason we do not execute witches is that we do not believe there are such things. If we did—if we really thought that there were people going about who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these powers to kill their neighbours or drive them mad or bring bad weather—surely we would all agree that if anyone deserved the death penalty, then these filthy quislings did? There is no difference of moral principle here: the difference is simply about matter of fact. It may be a great advance in knowledge not to believe in witches: there is no moral advance in not executing them when you do not think they are there. You would not call a man humane for ceasing to set mousetraps if he did so because he believed there were no mice in the house.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
There can’t be any witches because there’s no devil. Duh!
Frankly, I fear a priest who does not acknowledge the existence the demonic.
@Bruised Optimist, exactly! The first thing I try to learn about a newly-met priest is his view of the supernatural. If he doesn’t believe in angels and demons, he doesn’t believe in the Truth as handed down from Christ through the Apostles, and he won’t be someone I look to for any spiritual guidance or support. Fortunately I have met very few of these false priests in person. (False in their hearts; I realize their ordinations are presumptively valid.)
As a retired chemistry teacher, I often wonder how many accused of witchcraft actually used natural means to harm people, for the Latin and Greek words for “witch” both also translate as “poisoner”. And what of those who terrified or extorted less educated neighbors by claims of supernatural power? Not witches, but not innocent either.
A book that reviewed English court records found that 17th century trial judged were quite skeptical of the charge, and that most “witches” were let go for lack of evidence, or else convicted of using “natural means” to cause harm. Even those convicted faced fines or flogging more often than execution. On the Continent, the Inquisition refused deal with witches.
Nancy Pelosi weighs the same as a duck …
I think that may be relevant.
I hadn’t seen that C.S. Lewis quotation. As ever, instructive.
Tom Byrne: You’re right. And a lot of those “remedies” purged an unwanted fetus. There’s an untold story here. Accused witches were often practicing murder of the unborn, yet the people who refused to tolerate that are demonized in popular lore.