Dear David:

It would appear that you have been reading anti-Catholic histories, which do not tell the truth.

The Church has never approved of execution of heretics. The penalty for heresy is excommunication, not execution. The few executions that took place were conducted by the State, not the Church. From the State's point-of-view, these heretics were a threat to them.

Now, there were individual priests or bishops who colluded with the state of have someone executed. This is what happened to Joan of Arc. Those individual priests and bishops sinned against God, against the poor soul executed, and against the Church. The Church is not responsible for the sins of individuals.

Source: Homiletic & Pastoral Review and here:

 The quick facts to present in response to an attack on the Church concerning the Spanish Inquisition are these:

• The government wanted the Spanish Inquisition, not the Church; the State was in charge.
• Successive popes, like Pope Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII complained to Spain about the conduct of the Inquisition.
• The Church never tortured anyone—Spanish officials may have, but no Inquisitorial friar or monk ever tortured someone accused of heresy.
• The Church did not burn anyone to death; in fact, of the approximately 2,000 condemned to death by the State, very few were actually executed—they were usually burned in effigy, having fled the country.
•  Those condemned were not burned alive at the stake during the auto-da-fe.

The Pope, by the way initially approved the Spanish Inquisition, but later rescinded that approval when he saw what King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was doing.

 The BBC (who are not Catholic) did a documentary on this:

 I am not sure what you mean by "After Protestants received protection." It was actually Catholics who needed protection. It was illegal to be a Catholic in England up until 1830. Catholic properties were confiscated, priests were arrested, tortured, killed, or deported. The secret rooms in Manor Houses were called "priest holes." Sympathetic Lords of the Manor hide priests in those secret spaces to protect them from the Taliban-style squads who patrolled the streets looking for Catholics.

As for witch-burnings and the like, it was Protestants who were responsible for 99% of that. If I remember correctly, Calvinist and other Protestants murdered up to 150,000 alleged witches. The witch-burnings in the United States were also done by Protestants.

It is best to get your history straight.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary