text: I'll copy my reply to Elagabalus here:
  
  It's generally accepted that it was the secular governments, not the Catholic Church, which burned people at the stake. Heresy was a capital crime under secular law at the time. I can find absolutely no evidence that the Catholic Church associated left-handedness with witchcraft. That seems to be a prevalent folk superstition of the time, but the Church, as far as I can tell, has never made such a proclamation. Most of the frenzied mass witch hunts we hear about were carried out within small villages and did not fall under the control of the Church.
  http://catholicbridge.com/catholic/burning_times_inquisition_witches.php
  http://www.salon.com/2005/02/01/witch_craze/