When you're a practicing Catholic, the world loves to challenge your faith. Some want to know why you worship Mary, the mother of Jesus. Others want to know why you hate gay people. And everyone, sooner or later, wants you to answer for the Crusades.
The answer to those first two charges is straightforward: We don't. But questions about the Church's actions during the Middle Ages (which also include the conversion of Europe to Christianity and, later, the Inquisition) can be trickier. In general, there are three directions you could go with your reply.
One is to plead sinfulness mitigated by progress. There are many things in the Church's history we aren't proud of, you might say, but magisterial teachings today are clear and categorical: We no longer wage holy wars, and forced conversions are a thing of the past.
