The Catholic Church and the Vatican were not responsible for that. The torture and executions of leading Templars were the work of Philip IV, king of France, acting on his own. He had a very uneasy relationship with the Catholic Church.
The Vatican later disbanded the order, and issued some statements which diminished their reputation. But followed in the wake of the French govt actions, and did not involve prison and torture.
Good point. They are asking the Vatican to apologize for what they did NOT do (torture etc) and NOT for what they did do, which was disband the order for heresy . . .
The Jesuits were also disbanded once. THEY were later reinstated. (Tho might be time for another look?) ;)
So the Templars COULD have petitioned for reinstatement later, PROVIDED that their actions and beliefs were compatible with the Church . . . which they were not . . .
Roger that. It would have been a little difficult for "the Vatican" to have had anything to do with this considering that it didn't exist in the 14th-century and the papacy had been removed to France in one of the manifestations of Gallicanism.