@Crom Valen much of what you say is correct. except: the Catholic Church did not exist at the time of Christ's execution - it was the 'time of the Roman Empire' then - not the Roman Catholic Empire. The Roman Empire was the greatest empire which existed at that time - and the new Christians were persecuted by the Romans (but not nearly as much as is depicted by Hollywood) - because they refused to recognise the head of the empire and sacrifice and pay homage to him as a 'god'. In Jesus' case the emperor was Tiberius, but when - eventually the Roman Church became a church som 2-300 years later, taking Rome at its center, the blame for Jesus' death was re-assigned to Pontius Pilate, who was the regional representative of Tiberius in Israel, then called 'Judea'.
Jesus did upset the Jewish traders and money-lenders belonging to the 'establishment' (Scribes and Pharisees) of his society, by preaching against their greedy and disrespectful ways and turning their tables over in the 'temple' - and they did ask the local Roman Government rep, Pontius Pilate to put him on trial - but under the scurrilous reason that Jesus had proclaimed himself 'the King of the Jews' - but essentially it was a payback. Jesus was what we would now call a 'revolutionary' and wanted his 'church' to live up to its principles. We all know that established churches eventually become the representatives of the upper classes and the powerful.
