OTDJH: On July 16, 1547, Pope Paul III issued the Bull Meditatio Cordis on this day, officially starting the Inquisition in Portugal. The Catholic Church and the Crown initiated both the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions to find "heretics" among the people who converted from Islam and Judaism to Catholicism. The process of "identification" often took the form of faux court trials, torture, and persecution. The laws and processes of the Inquisitions lasted for over 300 years and spread across every continent that the Spanish and Portuguese colonized. Offices of the Inquisition were established in Lisbon, Evora, Coimbra, and Goa (Portugal’s Indian colony) as a result of the Bull Meditatio Cordis. Although Jews had been expelled completely from the Iberian Peninsula since 1492 from Spain, and 1496 from Portugal, no formal persecution of Portuguese Jews vis-à-vis the Church was in effect until today. At the same time, many Jews had remained in both Spain and Portugal after being forcibly converted; they were referred to as “conversos,” meaning “New Christians,” or the derogatory Spanish term "marranos," meaning "pigs." The Inquisition had unofficially begun in Portugal in 1536, as per the king’s demand, but the Pope had not yet given his permission. This was at the same time as a rise in attacks and violence against Jews and conversos (Jews who remained in Iberia and were forcibly converted).In 1540, the first auto-de-fe was held. An auto-de-fe was an event where convicted "heretics," i.e., Jews who "converted" yet continued practicing their Judaism in secret, were executed. The Pope was supposedly receiving bribes from new Christians and conversos to refrain from declaring a formal inquisition in Portugal. Ultimately, on this day, the Pope issued a papal bull, giving the Portuguese the power to create an independent inquisition that would have lasting negative effects on Jews, Protestants, Hindus, and Muslims for generations to come. Similarly to the Spanish Inquisition, the Portuguese Inquisition was led by the King, who worked with the Church to choose the head inquisitor (who was likely a member of the royal family). Although the Inquisition technically only dealt with matters of religion, it influenced cultural and social decisions as well. The Inquisition’s activity spread to censoring books and dealing with witchcraft, even though the original purpose was simply to find converts who were not following Catholicism properly.The Portuguese Inquisition expanded its power to Portugal’s colonies (Brazil, Cape Verde, and Goa) as well. In Goa, the Inquisition did not focus on only Jewish converts but also Muslim and Hindu converts, whom the inquisitors felt were still practicing their old religions. The Portuguese Inquisition continued until 1821, when it was finally disbanded. The Inquisition may have had up to 40,000 people tried in court, many of whom were Jews who had fled Spain in 1492, hoping for a better life in Portugal.Unfortunately, they were ultimately met with the same hate and antisemitism. Many were tried and tortured by the Inquisition for following their true faith.