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Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, which gave the Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer the explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.
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Pope Innocent VIII
Head of the Catholic Church from 1484 to 1492
Pope Innocent VIII, born Giovanni Battista Cybo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his early years at the Neapolitan court. He became a priest in the retinue of…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Papal bull
Type of decree by the Catholic pope
A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden seal (bulla) traditionally appended to authenticate it.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Summis desiderantes affectibus
1484 papal bull on witchcraft
Summis desiderantes affectibus, sometimes abbreviated to Summis desiderantes, was a papal bull regarding witchcraft issued by Pope Innocent VIII on 5 December 1484.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Dominican Order
Roman Catholic medicant order
The Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by the Castilian priest Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216.…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Heinrich Kramer
German inquisitor (c. 1430–1505)
Heinrich Kramer, also known under the Latinized name Henricus Institor, was a German churchman and inquisitor. With his widely distributed book Malleus Maleficarum (1487), which describes witchcraft and endorses detailed processes for the extermination of witches, he was…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Witchcraft
Practices believed to use supernatural powers
Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Witchcraft thus…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)