The Popes War on Cats

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In the 13th century, the pope at that time was Pope Gregory IX. The pope's confessor and faithful catholic official, Conrad of Marburg, launched an assault on cats. Conrad was not a good person. He forced confessions under torture and convinced the pope that cats, especially black ones, were a link to Satanic rituals. From 1227 to 1241 cats became the target of religious fanatics with much hostility. Cats were believed to be associated with evil spirits and, by 1233 this had become a full-scale purge. Countless felines(thank goodness we don't know the numbers)especially black ones were killed under a decree of the pope. Seen as agents of the devil the cat population declined but the rat population flourished. This contributed to the black death in later years. The Black Death was from 1346 to 1353.