Roman Inquisition The Roman Inquisition was a system of tribunals developed by the Roman Catholic Church during the second half of the 16th century. It was responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of a wide array of crimes relating to heresy, Protestantism, blasphemy, immorality and witchcraft. It was also responsible for the censorship of printed literature. The Inquistion began in 1542 as part of the Catholic Church’s Counter-Reformation against the spread of Protestantism. Famous figures accused of crimes during the Inquisition include Galileo Galilei and Nicolaus Copernicus, both of whom contradicted the geocentric model in favour of the correct heliocentric model of the universe.
