274

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS

QUESTION

save their souls and to protect
the spread of heresy among the
innocent, and that the Church,
though it neither judges nor
condemns, remits the obstinate
and the relapsed to the secular
courts. If, however, a secular
prince is advised of gross crimes
against the faith being com-
mitted in his territory, is he
entitled to exercise justice against
the offenders in order to obviate
scandal and prevent the dis-
semination of evil doctrines,
whether or not he has been
asked by the Church to do so ?

2. In the affair of the Templars, is
the temporal prince, by virtue
of his authority as guardian of
his people, justified in proceeding
against the brethren as heretics,
or do the Templars constitute a
religious body against which the
prince cannot act. Or, in view
of the confessions made by
members of the Order, can it be
claimed that the Order is not a
religious Order at all, but is
actually a fraternity of knights ?

3. As more than fifty Templars in
various parts of France, including
the Grand Master and other
dignitaries of the Order, have
made confessions of heresy, can
the guilt of the whole Order be
presumed as proven, and can all
the members be held as guilty ?
Or is it necessary that confessions
of similar crimes should be
forthcoming from members of
the Order in other countries
before the guilt of the Temple
as a whole can be regarded as
proven ?

ANSWER

the Church. Where, however
the crime is evident and danger
would arise from delay, the
secular prince may arrest heretics
without a specific request by
the Church, but such heretics
must be handed over to the
Church as early as possible.

2. Although the Templars are
knights, yet they must be
regarded as members of a religious
Order and have the privileges of
servants of the Church. Those
members, however, who have
made no profession to the Church
but have on their entry into the
Temple been required only to
subscribe to heretical teachings
are excluded from the benefits
of religious ; whether they have
in fact made due profession to
Church is for the Church to
decide.
3. The confessions made, especially
by the leaders of the Temple,
give rise to a very strong
suspicion of the guilt of the whole
Order, and are sufficient to
justify a charge against the
whole Order.