The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III.

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns first inaugurated and sanctioned by the papacy that were undertaken between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Originally, the Crusades were Christian Holy Wars to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims, then to defend Christian-held Jerusalem, but some were directed against other targets, such as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars of southern France, the Fourth Crusade which conquered Orthodox Christian Constantinople, and Crusades targeting Jews, non-conformist Christians, and un-Christianized populations living in Europe. Initially, the Crusades had the blessing of both the Western (Catholic) Church under the Pope and of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Byzantine Emperor. However, the Emperors withdrew their support as their own subjects became targets of Crusading efforts to root out what they saw as Christian heresy or paganism. Killing Muslims, Jews, or heretics was regarded as an act of merit, rewarded by paradise, and forced conversion was also widespread, although many chose death to renunciation of faith.

Although there are numerous reports of Jesus' burial shroud, or an image of his head, of unknown origin, being venerated in various locations before the 14th century, there is no reliable historical evidence that these refer to the shroud currently at Turin Cathedral.[5] A burial cloth, which some historians maintain was the Shroud, was owned by the Byzantine emperors but disappeared during the Sack of Constantinople in 1204.[6] Barbara Frale has cited that the Order of Knights Templar were in the possession of a relic showing a red, monochromatic image of a bearded man on linen or cotton.[7]

Isn't it a bit hypocritical to compare the personal army of the pope to peaceful shaolin monks? Monks don't kill each other, unlike the knights templars that literally slaughtered thousands of their so called "Orthodox Christian" brethren!