Has the Church ever apologised for the witch hunts?

The church in Salem Massachusetts (Protestant, Congregational) apologized for it's part in the witchcraft hysteria of 1692 about 10 years after the event (c.1702) But that is the only one I am aware of.

Sorta depends on whatchya mean by "The Church" and by "Apologize". Over the last 10 years or so, The Roman Catholic Church has done a few mea culpas. In November of '94, Pope John Paul II announced a "commitment to repent of past ecclesiastical sins as prelude to the celebration of Christianity's third millennium"; He said " ... t is time to examine the past with courage, to assign responsibility where it is due in a review of the long history of humanity." In March of the following year, The Jesuit General Congregation joined with The Congregation for The Defense of The Faith (sorta like The Army and The Department of Defense, respectively) to apologize for abetting "male domination" and pledged "solidarity with women." A few months later, in July, Pope John Paul II reaffirmed that sentiment and, in a Papal Letter addressed to "Every Woman", apologized for the Church's stance against women's rights and for the historical denigration of women. In September of '99, a Papal Pronouncement asked on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church for "forgiveness for past errors and omissions" without specifying what those errors and omissions might have been or on whom they might have had impact. Only slightly more specific was a March 2000 message delivered by The Pope as centerpiece of a Papal Mass of Pardon, part of that year's Easter liturgy cycle, in which John Paul II asked forgiveness for the sins of Catholics throughout the ages, saying ""Christians...have violated the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and shown contempt for their cultures and religious traditions..." The wording of that message made it fairly clear The Church's plea for pardon did not extend to homosexuals. Apart from those examples, there have been "apologies" pertaining to the recent paedophilia-related scandals, the Church's silence regarding the atrocities and outrages of WWII, particularly referencing The Holocaust, and to the persecution of Gallileo, though as far as I know, The Roman Church has never said anything like "Sorry, witches - my bad".

Some years after the Salem Witch Trials, one local church, a judge, and a dozen jurors published a recantation of their decade-earlier actions in regard to that matter, and a while back, the Anglican Church/Church of England repudiated and apologized for "certain past excessesses" but that's about all I can think of.

Thanks so much for the great replies! I can tell i'm going to be visiting this forum alot!

and then there were all of those European witches



http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=4005

Kind of a funny page. But definitely some good clues to followup.

Ok, I was thinking this topic was about tail-gunner Joe McCarthy and HUAC. Guess I was wrong, again.

There has never been an apology for that witch hunt either.

Not so sure that one has ever really ended.