Pope Paul III and the American Indians

Abstract

When Alexander VI promulgated the bull Inter caetera on May 4, 1493 granting Spain a large part of the new world, there seems to have been no doubt that the natives who dwelt in the ‘very remote islands and mainlands’ would be willing and able to accept the teachings of the Catholic church. For Alexander had been informed that in those far off lands werevery many peoples living in peace and, as reported, going unclothed, and not eating flesh. Moreover, … these very peoples … believe in one God the Creator in heaven, and seem sufficiently disposed to embrace the Catholic faith and be trained in good morals. And it is hoped that, were they instructed, the name of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, would easily be introduced into the said countries and islands.These optimistic predictions were not fulfilled and, as the Spanish conquest of the Americas proceeded to reveal the existence of millions of natives, the action of the papacy in the conversion and protection of these masses of Indians became an important matter, for as that studious seventeenth century jurist, Antonio de Leon Pinelo, declared:Inasmuch as the Indies were conceded to the kings of Castile principally in order to favor and convert the Indians, no harm must come of this concession.

Activist Religion, Empire, and the Emergence of Modern Long-Distance Advocacy Networks

“…Reforming exploitative imperial institutions became the main preoccupation of Las Casas’s long life (1484 to 1566; see Giménez Fernández 1971). Galvanized to action by Las Casas or acting on their own, numerous Dominican, Franciscan, and Augustinian friars, often risking severe persecutions, turned to the royal court in Madrid, the Council of the Indies, and the Pope in Rome to influence policies and legislation for a more humane treatment of indigenous populations (Assadourian 1985, 1988, 1989a, 1989b; Casas [1527] 1971; Hanke 1937, [1949] 2002, 1974; Korth 1968; Parish and Weidman 1992; Pérez Fernández 1984; Poole 1966). Franciscans and Jesuits also mobilized to defend indigenous rights in the course of Portugal’s expansion into Brazil (Alden 1969; Boxer 1952; Groh 1970; Haubert 1964; Kiemen 1954).…”

“…Lobbying by Dominicans and Franciscans led the Papacy to issue, between 1537 and 1567, a series of official documents condemning the enslavement of indigenous people and the despoiling of their goods. Among these was the encyclical Sublimis Deus of 1537, which in strong words proclaimed the full rationality of the “Indians” and the sanctity of their property (Hanke 1937; Parish and Weidman 1992). 4…”

“…I told him that I did not want any part of the gold that had been obtained unjustly nor wanted to lend approval to such robberies with my presence. (Reproduced in Hanke 1937:99–100, my translation)…”