Catholic Church. Congregatio Romanae et Universalis Inquisitionis

The Congregation of the Holy Office was, until 1908, called the Congregatio Romanae et Universalis Inquisitionis seu Sancti Officii. The primary function of this congregation was to assist the pope in his task of preserving the integrity of the church doctrine on faith and morals, although the manner of operation has varied over the centuries.

The earliest traces of the Church's concern for preserving this integrity can be found in Lucius III's constitution Ad abolendam (4 Nov 1184) which obliged all bishops to visit twice a year, either personally or by appropriate delegate, the various dioceses to investigate any teaching or practices that seemed to endanger Christian faith or morals. Successive measures taken by Innocent III (1198-1216) led to the appointment in 1231 by Gregory IX of the inquisitores haereticae pravitatis with a mandate of systematically searching out heresy and heretics.

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