Lucius III
Ubaldo Allucingoli · 1181 – 1185
Spent most of his pontificate exiled from Rome and issued the decree Ad abolendam, which established the episcopal inquisition against heresy.
Ubaldo was a Cistercian from Lucca who had been a protege of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. As pope from 1181, he was unable to control Rome and spent most of his pontificate in Verona and other Italian cities. In 1184, he issued Ad abolendam with Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, establishing a systematic procedure for bishops to investigate and prosecute heresy in their dioceses. This decree laid the groundwork for what would later become the Inquisition. He died in Verona in 1185.
The Origins of Inquisition
Lucius III's decree Ad abolendam is an uncomfortable part of Church history. It required bishops to actively seek out heretics in their dioceses and hand them over to secular authorities for punishment. The medieval Church believed that protecting doctrinal unity was worth coercive measures. Modern Catholics have had to reckon with this legacy honestly.