Page "Catharism" Paragraph 18

At first Pope Innocent III tried pacific conversion, and sent a number of legates into the Cathar regions.

They had to contend not only with the Cathars, the nobles who protected them, and the people who respected them, but also with many of the bishops of the region, who resented the considerable authority the Pope had conferred upon his legates.

In 1204, Innocent III suspended a number of bishops in Occitania ; in 1205 he appointed a new and vigorous bishop of Toulouse, the former troubadour Foulques.

In 1206 Diego of Osma and his canon, the future Saint Dominic, began a programme of conversion in Languedoc ; as part of this, Catholic-Cathar public debates were held at Verfeil, Servian, Pamiers, Montréal and elsewhere.