Is ISIS legitmate because it's a coalition of Theocrats and Saddam-era disgruntled regime lackeys cobbled together into a makeshift government? Nah.
The Catholic Church was literally above reproach for most of it's history, anybody accusing it's functionaries of wrongdoing risked very real reprucussions-particularly in your beloved Middle Ages. And I'll.refer you to the Pentinential Books, specifically the Pentinetiale Bede which details, among other things, accusations of sexual relations between priests and children. That was in the 8th Century.
But ISIS seized power from the legitimate government of Iraq. The Kingdoms of Europe formed from uniting tribes.
And back in the 8th century, those crimes were punished much more harshly. This is what it says on the site.
“The earliest recorded church legislation is from the council of Elvira (Spain, 306 AD). Half of the canons passed dealt with sexual behavior of one kind or another and included penalties assessed for clerics who committed adultery or fornication. Though it did not make specific mention of homosexual activities by the clergy, this early Council reflected the church’s official attitude toward same-sex relationships: men who had sex with young boys were deprived of communion even on their deathbed.”
“The Council of Elvira was not the only source of early legislative attempts to curb the sexual misdeeds of the clergy. Other gatherings of bishops throughout the Christian world, which encompassed what are now Western Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East and the British Isles, passed laws attempting to stamp out clerical concubinage, clerical fornication and homosexual activity.”
“Given the poor state of communications at the time it is remarkable that the various councils and synods produced disciplinary legislation similar in tone.”
“The Penitential of Bede (England, 8th century) advises that clerics who commit sodomy with young boys be given increasingly severe penances commensurate with their rank, the higher ranking (bishops) receiving harsher penalties.”
“The most authoritative source is the Decree of Gratian already mentioned. Though mandatory celibacy had been decreed by the 2nd Lateran Council in 1139, this law was received with neither universal acceptance nor obedience. Medieval scholars attest that clerical concubinage was commonplace. Adultery, casual sex with unmarried women and homosexual relationships were rampant. Gratian devoted entire sections to disciplinary legislation which attempted to curb all of these vices. He demanded that the punishment for sexual transgressions be more severe for clerics than for lay men. His treatment of same-sex activities was less extensive than that of other celibacy violations, yet his attitude is evident because he cited the ancient Roman law opinion that stuprum pueri, the sexual violation of young boys, be punished by death.”
“Many monasteries passed local regulations in attempts to curb the rampant abuses. In his Rule, Benedict commanded that no two monks were to sleep in the same bed. Night lights were to be kept burning and the monks were to sleep clothed. Many monasteries enacted their own rules forbidding various kinds of sexual behavior and added punishments that were often more severe than those meted out to the secular clerics.”