Barbara Frale (Viterbo, February 24, 1970), an Italian historian known for her historical studies on the Templars and the Shroud of Turin, discovered a document in September 2001 at the Vatican Secret Archives, known as the Chinon Parchment. This document demonstrates how Pope Clement V granted sacramental absolution to Grand Master Jacques De Molay and the other leaders of the order, dropping the charge of heresy and readmitting them to the communion of the Catholic Church.
The parchment is dated Chinon, August 17-20, 1308, and was drawn up on the order of Berengar, Cardinal Priest of Saints Nereus and Achilleus; Stephen, Cardinal Priest of Saint Cyriacus in Thermis; and Landolfo, Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria.The Vatican holds the original and authentic copy of the acts of that inquiry, with the archival reference Archivum Arcis Armarium D217, while a second authenticated copy is kept under number D218. According to the parchment, Pope Clement V instructed the cardinals to conduct the inquiry into the accused Knights Templar in the castle of Chinon, located in the diocese of Tours.The Cardinals therefore "declare through this official report directed to all those who wish to read it, that the Lord Pope himself, desiring and intending to know the pure, complete and entire truth from the leading figures of the said Order, namely Brother Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Templar, Brother Raymbaud de Caron, Brother Hugo de Perraud, Brother Geoffroy de Gonneville and Geoffroy de Charney, ordered and specifically charged us and by his orally expressed wish that we diligently examine the truth by interrogating the Grand Master and the aforementioned Preceptors one by one and individually, having summoned public notaries and trustworthy witnesses." (Chinon Parchment dated August 17-20, 1308). The Grand Master was the last to be interrogated on August 20, 1308. According to the document, all the interrogations of the accused that took place from August 17 to 20, 1308, always occurred in the presence of public notaries and the assembled witnesses.The text lists the accusations, the requests for absolution, and the granting of absolution by the Pope's agents; all this always took place in the presence of witnesses. An excerpt of the indulgences granted to Molay then reads, "After this, we came to the conclusion to extend the grace of pardon for those acts that Brother Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Order, in the form and manner described above, had denounced in our presence, as well as for the described heresies and any other, and he swore in person on the Holy Gospel of the Lord, and humbly asked for the grace of pardon (against excommunication), bringing him back to union with the Church and rejoining him to the community of the faithful and to the sacraments of the Church." (Chinon Parchment dated August 17-20, 1308).
