Vox in Rama ("voice in Ramah") is a decretal sent by Pope Gregory IX in June 1233 condemning the heresy of Luciferianism said to be rife in Germany, and authorizing the preaching of a crusade against it.
Gregory's aim was to bring order and legality to the process of dealing with heresy, since there had been tendencies by mobs of townspeople to burn alleged heretics without much of a trial.
The aim was to introduce due process and objective investigation into the beliefs of those accused to the often erratic and unjust persecution of heresy on the part of local ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions.
Barber claims that it was during this time that there was a great zeal for the sending out of inquisitors by the pope and local bishops with the aim of seeking out potential heretics.
[7] Allegedly through torture and terror, Konrad reported he had uncovered a satanic cult which worshiped devils in the forms of a demonic man and of a diabolical black cat.
The issue of the admonition Vox in Rama was a response to Konrad's allegations, urging Siegfried III and King Henry, representing the ecclesiastical and temporal authorities respectively, to seek out and destroy the heretics.
[11] Gregory also claims that the sect committed various crimes against the Eucharist: They even receive the body of the Lord every year at Easter from the hand of the priest and, carrying it in their mouths home, they throw it into the latrine in contempt of the Saviour.
[10] The initial text line Vox in Rama (“voice in Ramah”) is taken from a Bible passage found in (Jeremiah 31:15) “Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” and is cited in Matthew 2:18 as a prophetic lament for the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem by King Herod.