Portal:Religion/On this day/December 5

December 5:

 * 1484 - Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the severest witchhunts in European history.
 * 1590 - Niccolò Sfondrati becomes Pope Gregory XIV.