We came. We saw. We Conquered. At least that's how we felt after attending the Great Synagogue for about five minutes. After all, we did need to make our group tour of the Vatican and get there before Bush.
I must remark now how in class we could only imagine how powerful and rich the church was during the 14-17th centuries. After going to the Vatican I can see how much wealth they had. I don't understand why at times they needed to control the masses with their lies at times. During its height the church would denounce the blood libels. Then when the church lost their power due to the Enlightenment they used the blood libels to try and stay in power. For those that don't know a blood libel is the accusation (when specifically referred to Jews) that Jews re-enact the killing of Jesus and use the blood to make Matzot (unleavened cracker(cardboard)-like bread). The victim is always a young, innocent, male.
One case we perused was the story of Simon of Trent. We learned specifically that blood libels occur in border towns or places where one's identity is at question. However, what is equally interesting is that the church had the authority to, "grant a full and free faculty to Christian believers, whether they be secular or ecclesiastical persons, with the remedies or ecclesiastical and other laws, ... [to] compel witnesses to testify concerning the above."
If I had that power I think I would enjoy ruling the world for about a day. It's scary having so much power. No wonder people fought to become the next pope. And come to think about it, if I had that much power I wouldn't imagine that people went against their nature to kill little boys for bread.
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