The Roman Inquisition is (it stills exists) a judicial body created with the explicit intent to prevent summary justice and its side-effects, as well as to stop

The Roman Inquisition is (it stills exists) a judicial body created with the explicit intent to prevent summary justice and its side-effects, as well as to stop superstitious practices (in particular relative to « witches », which the Church never accepted as real and saw as a manifestation of paganism). It was a considerably progressive institution if you consider the state of the rule of law and religious orthodoxy at the time. As a result, witch-hunting is a practice that blossomed in areas where Catholic institutions lost power during the Reform era. Your perception might be coloured by the Spanish Inquisition, which was under the command of the Spanish crown and was thus a civil institution first.