The Cathars were a religious movement that thrived in the 12th untill the 14 century in the south of France and the north of Italy. They were inspired by the life of Jesus but the mystical interpretation of the Bible differed from the views of the Roman-Catholic church. The Vatican considered the Cathars as heritics, a movement that had to be annihilated and that happened. With the execution of the last “parfait” Guillaume Bélibaste in 1321 and the last four believers on the stake in Carcassonne in 1329 Catharism ceased to exist. The genocide in the name of the God and executed by the Roman-Catholic church had been completed. A very dark page in the history of the Roman-Catholic church and Christianity.
Untill today you can find many traces of the Cathars in the south of France. The old city of Carcassonne has been restored and brought back to its medieval splendour. There are also remains of castles that remind us of the existence of this intriguing and deeple religious people. A people that has been annihilated just because they had a different prespective on the Bible.
