The Cathars and Albigensian Crusade: When the Catholic Church Massacred 20,000 in a Single Day

In medieval southern France, a Christian sect called the Cathars believed the physical world was evil, created by Satan, and the only path to salvation was rejecting all earthly pleasures. Their most devoted followers, the "perfecti," lived in extreme poverty, refused to eat meat or have sex, and practiced a death ritual called the "Endura" - voluntarily starving themselves to escape their evil bodies faster. By 1200, they had converted much of southern France, and the Pope was terrified.

In 1209, Pope Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade - a 20-year holy war to exterminate the Cathars. The first target was the town of Béziers. When the crusader army arrived, they asked the papal legate how to distinguish Cat ...