Indigenous activists and organisations in North America were pleased but ultimately underwhelmed by the Vatican's move, however, as the formal statement failed to submit the Roman Catholic Church to any accountability for the extensive harm the doctrine caused over the centuries — colonisation itself, as well as the motivating values and beliefs inherent in the Doctrine of Discovery that continued well after the first several centuries of active colonialism and conquest declined.

The repudiation, which came in a statement from a bureaucratic office, not Pope Francis himself, said the doctrine had been "manipulated" by colonisers "to justify immoral acts against Indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities."

Native Americans also felt the statement downplayed the Catholic Church's active role in driving the colonisation and destruction of Indigenous populations.

The real question is, how much can we expect such a statement to change long-held attitudes regarding the right of European Christians to displace and destroy Indigenous peoples in centuries past?

Indigenous advocates' fears about the lack of a long-term impact appear well-founded. Surveys of the American public demonstrate that the influence of the theological justifications for dominion and violence created by the Doctrine of Discovery is still strong, primarily through the cultural framework of Christian nationalism.

Christian nationalism is the desire to see a particular expression of the Christian faith fused with American civic life and identity.

Christian nationalism regards its version of Christianity as the principal and undisputed moral and cultural framework in the United States and prefers a government that vigorously preserves it.

In 2023, a survey on Christian nationalism in the United States from the Public Religion Research Institute and The Brookings Institution measured the prevalence of Christian nationalism by gauging how much Americans agreed with the following five statements:

• The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation. U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.
• If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.
• Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.
• God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.

Those who agree or strongly agree with these statements score higher on the scale, while those who disagree or strongly disagree score lower on the scale.

As the figure below clearly shows, Christian nationalism is intimately intertwined with the belief that God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society to serve as an example to the rest of the world.

"God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that could be an example to the rest of the world" Graphic courtesy of Andrew Whitehead

Americans who embrace Christian nationalism are much more likely agree that God destined America to be a new "promised land" for European Christians. Furthermore, Christian nationalism considers these European Christians as tasked with creating a society that would be "a shining city on a hill," in the words of Ronald Reagan, echoing Puritan leader John Winthrop.

The declarations of the Doctrine of Discovery were the earliest iterations of many of these ideas and formed a theological foundation for the white Christian nationalism we see in our body politic today.

The Doctrine of Discovery created a binary society of European Christians on the one hand and those deserving of domination on the other. Only such a society would align with the will of the Christian God.

This theology survived the Reformation and its cleaving of Christianity.

The Protestant sect we call the Puritans viewed themselves as special in the eyes of the Christian God, a status that justified their forceful occupation and seizure of land, resources, and people in North America.

As Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah write in their 2019 book Unsettling Truths, "The Doctrine of Discovery allowed Native genocide to be understood as a holy act of claiming the promised land for European settlers."

After a massacre of hundreds of Pequots in 1637, one captain of colonial forces declared, quoting Psalm 110, "thus did the Lord judge among the Heathen."

Beyond baptising the use of violence to take hold of the "promised land," the Doctrine of Discovery implicitly required settlers to distinguish "us" from "them," encouraging the creation of racial categories in North America. European Christians quickly differentiated themselves from the Indigenous people they encountered and those they brought to these shores as slaves. White skin signalled good and Christian, while black or brown skin signified bad and heathen.

This fruit of the doctrine is still with us today.

Americans who embrace Christian nationalism are much more likely to deny the reality of racial injustice, view authoritarian violence towards minorities as justified and view racial diversity as a greater hindrance to national unity than even religious diversity.

At its root, Christian nationalism idolises self-interested power, fear of outsiders and violence towards those who threaten the boundaries between "us" and "them." The Doctrine of Discovery was essential to creating these idols of Christian nationalism.

And as the heinous actions of those expounding the doctrine throughout history show us, quests to protect self-interested power based on hierarchical relationships between "us" and "them"— founded on fear of "them" — usually result in violence.

While the statement from the Vatican is an important step, Indigenous activists point out that more direct action from the Catholic Church is necessary to repair prior wrongs, perhaps in the form of reparations for those communities most harmed by the Doctrine of Discovery.

At the very least, the church can speak out against the cultural framework of Christian nationalism.

Otherwise, those who believe God promised this land and its fruits to our forebears will remain convinced of their right to allow nothing — not even those who were here long before — to stand in their way.

• Andrew Whitehead is an author at Religion News Service.
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

The ways colonisation took place varied according to place and time but usually involved the imposition of European power over local peoples and the establishment of economic and political systems benefitting the colonisers.

The 'doctrine of discovery' refers to a set of decisions and permissions given by the Popes of the late 15th century to the first main European colonising powers - Spain and Portugal.

The papacy court in pre-Reformation times was a kind of 'high court' of Europe, and these decisions were meant to avoid conflicts among Catholic rulers.

The decisions permitted 'discoverers' from Europe to take possession of lands that were 'found' and to bring the Catholic Christian faith to them.

The conquest of the West Indies, Mexico and Peru was accompanied by clergy as chaplains to the conquerors and bringers of Catholicism to local peoples.

Underlying these documents was a presumption of the superiority of European (white) ways and technology and of the Christian faith, especially in the form of Catholicism.

It was assumed that the arrival of all these things would greatly benefit local peoples.

Although later papal documents of the 16th century took a different approach -in the light of what colonisers were doing in the 'New World' - the practical effects of the initial conquest and colonisation (and the attitudes underlying them) continued.

The colonisation of Aotearoa by Britain was relatively late from the 1840s onward.

There had been a realisation by some in England (e.g., the influential anti-slavery 'Clapham sect' group) of the damage done by British colonisation in other places. Hence the move to seek a Treaty with the 'independent tribes of Niu Tireni' (cf: 1835 Declaration of Independence).

Captain Hobson gathered chief's signatures to allow British settlement.

However, when in May 1840, he proclaimed British sovereignty over NZ (not conceded in the Treaty's Maori version), it was by virtue of the Treaty for the North Island and by 'right of discovery' for the South and Stewart Islands.

The 'doctrine' was most notably summarised by US Judge Marshall in 1823 and has underpinned colonial and post-colonial legal systems in various countries.

It has come under strong attack, especially in Canada and New Zealand, as indigenous peoples reclaim lost rights.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is part of this repudiation. In Aotearoa, the Waitangi Tribunal and constitutional change are another part of the process of recognising indigenous peoples.

Since the late 1970s, popes have sought to meet indigenous people, offer apologies for Church practices that facilitated their subjugation and recognise indigenous spiritualities (cf Pope John Paul II in Auckland 1986, also Querida Amazonia, 2020).

Recently, the Vatican declared that the 'doctrine of discovery' is not part of the Church's official teaching but came from a particular historical political and legal situation.

This should remove any question that the Church supports colonialist practices, including where they might still occur.

Some campaigners against the doctrine have claimed the declaration is a way for the Church to absolve and distance itself from the racist assumptions and consequences of these documents. They have said there should not just be a repudiation of them but a formal rescinding plus clear action for redress.

What does the doctrine mean for pastoral ministers in Aotearoa NZ, today?

It means we continue to recognise the historical exclusion of Maori in Aotearoa, the importance of te Tiriti o Waitangi and the role of the Church in safeguarding the place of that Tiriti.

Other steps

• learning good pronunciation of te reo as an official language of the country;
• reading some good histories of this land;
• learning the Maori names for objects, birds, and plants;
• learning parts of the Mass in te reo; and
• act against colonial practices.

In recent years we Catholics have been called to put a particular emphasis on the important work of decolonisation (cf, for example, Querida Amazonia nn. 9-19; Pope Francis' message to a workshop on Colonisation, Decolonisation, Neo-colonialism in the Perspective of Justice and the Common Good).

Decolonisation is the process of freeing an institution of colonisation's social, economic, and cultural impacts.

This involves our way of thinking and acting towards one another, and it is not simply about political independence.

This includes holding meaningful and even uncomfortable conversations about how the Church has been an instrument of colonisation and racism.

This could also mean korero on the rights of the indigenous all over the world and what the Church teaches about the dignity of all peoples

• Gerard Burns is the Vicar General in the Archdiocese of Wellington
• First published in Launch Out Letters. Republished with permission.

The doctrine was supported by papal bulls (edicts) that legitimised colonial actions in seizing Indigenous lands, and it has been used to deny Indigenous peoples their rights.

The repudiation of the doctrine by the church on March 30, 2023 came in a joint statement from the Dicasteries for Culture and Education and for Promoting Integral Human Development.

"The church acknowledges that these papal bulls did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples," reads the statement.

"The Catholic Church therefore repudiates those concepts that fail to recognise the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political `doctrine of discovery'."

"Never again can the Christian community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others, or that it is legitimate to employ ways of coercing others," said Pope Francis in the statement.

"The Vatican needs to do more"

International Chief Wilton Littlechild (pictured) of the Ermineskin Cree Nation gifted Pope Francis with a headdress during his visit to Canada in July 2022 following the pontiff's apology over the residential schools' scandal.

"When he was here going across Canada, he couched (the Doctrine of Discovery) under the term of colonialism, but didn't use those words, and survivors wanted to hear them," said Littlechild, speaking to chiefs last week at the Assembly of First Nations special chiefs assembly In Ottawa.

"They wanted to hear those words. It was quite a decision that he made (to deliver the joint statement)."

But not everyone was as pleased as Littlechild with the step to repudiate.

"The formal repudiation comes without reparations or tangible actions to account for the systemic violence, destruction of land and culture, and genocide which were propagated by this deadly weapon of colonisation," said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.

The Vatican needs to do more, said Grand Chief Phillip.

Sources

Turtle Island News

CathNews New Zealand

To be clear, what the Vatican formally disowned yesterday is a legal and political concept, not a theological tenet.

"The legal concept of ‘discovery' was debated by colonial powers from the sixteenth century onward and found particular expression in the nineteenth century jurisprudence of courts in several countries, according to which the discovery of lands by settlers granted an exclusive right to extinguish, either by purchase or conquest, the title to or possession of those lands by indigenous peoples," Thursday's statement said.

"The ‘doctrine of discovery' is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church," said the statement, jointly issued by the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

"The Catholic Church … repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery,'" it said.

Such a formal repudiation had been a key demand of Indigenous groups when Pope Francis visited Canada last July.

The joint statement acknowledged that a handful of 15th century papal bulls, including Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493), were invoked to justify the doctrine, but insists they "have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith."

Part of the design for the joint statement was to craft it as an historical and politico-social declaration, without any theological import - it's telling, in that regard, that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was not among its signatories.

Yet no matter how hard the Vatican may try, it seems unlikely that the theological underpinnings of what came to be known as the "Doctrine of Discovery" can be avoided indefinitely. Indeed, the issuance of Thursday's statement seems likely to embolden forces seeking a theological reevaluation too.

Philip P. Arnold, a professor of religious studies at Syracuse University and the director of an Iroquois cultural centre, told the New York Times that yesterday's repudiation was only a "first step."

The Vatican needs to address the "worldview" underlying the Doctrine of Discovery, Arnold said, including the idea that Christianity is superior to other religions.

And therein lies the rub.

When Pope Alexander VI granted King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I sovereignty over a broad swath of the "New World" in Inter Caetera, he may well have been issuing a political decree that was not, in itself, de fide.

Yet there's no denying that the underlying justification was theological, rooted in the inherently missionary nature of Christianity. Continue reading

The Doctrine is a 15th-century policy backed by "papal bulls" that legitimised the colonial-era seizure of Native lands.

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops say they have been carefully considering calls in recent years by Maori leaders for the Catholic Church to reject the Doctrine of Discovery.

On Friday, the Conference said that it welcomed the Vatican's move to disown the Doctrine.

"In the 21st Century, we abhor the kind of belief that one group of people is superior to another and reject it absolutely," New Zealand's bishops say in a statement.

"We say to the Maori leaders who asked us to reject the Doctrine and to all other people of this country that we reject it absolutely and without reservation.

"Such a doctrine has no place in our world and should not be part of any discourse about this country's future directions."

Aotearoa indigenous rights advocate Tina Ngata (pictured) says that Maori want the bishops "to take ownership of the impacts of the doctrine and work to reverse the ideology of white supremacy it initiated."

"The Crown here in Aotearoa also needs to reject the doctrine and remove its application in our legal frameworks."

Taranaki Whanui chairperson Kara Puketapu-Dentice described the Vatican's move as a "good first step."

Puketapu-Dentice said it would be working with the Catholic archdiocese in Wellington "as we seek to give meaning to the words," including looking at returning Catholic lands to Maori.

He hoped the New Zealand government was paying heed to the change and would take action, including updating the education curriculum.

Te Kahui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission indigenous rights governance partner Claire Charters said the rejection showed the Vatican was finally acknowledging its legacy of racism and dispossession of indigenous people, including Maori.

"The Doctrine of Discovery underpinned the idea that indigenous peoples were not human and thus European powers were free to colonise perceived empty territories."

The move to reject the Doctrine of Discovery came after Pope Francis visited Canada last year.

In Late September 2022, CathNews reported the Vatican and Canadian Bishops were working together to develop a Papal statement.

The Doctrine's repudiation was formally announced in a joint statement from the Vatican's dicasteries for Culture and for Integral Human Development.

"Never again can the Christian community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others, or that it is legitimate to employ ways of coercing others," writes Pope Francis.

The Vatican statement acknowledges the Church's past failings.

It also admits that over the course of history, "many Christians have committed evil acts against indigenous peoples for which recent Popes have asked forgiveness on numerous occasions."

It stressed its commitment to efforts aimed at healing and reconciliation.

Source

• Crux Now
• AP News
• Scoop
• Stuff

Canada's Catholic bishops' conference (CCCB) and Vatican officials are working together on the document.

They aim to create a statement rejecting an entire tradition of legal reasoning, said Jonathan Lesarge, CCCB spokesman.

It is likely to address core concerns of Indigenous people in Canada and in many other parts of the world.

Pope Francis promised to make a statement about the Doctrine when he was on his way home from Canada in July.

An American legal scholar says the key 1823 US Supreme Court decision entrenching the Doctrine into common law around the world is "the very foundation of property law in the United States".

In the United States property has been acquired from a king - of England, Spain or France, Robert Miller explains.

"And you got it from the colonies and then you got it from the Continental Congress and our Articles of Confederation, or you bought it from the United States government we have now. The US got it by treaties or by conquest. That is all based on the Doctrine of Discovery."

He says the US must find an alternative, morally justifiable basis for property law.

The current law

Miller is a leading expert on the Doctrine and the US Supreme Court decision of Johnson v. McIntosh. European justifications for colonising the New World were first codified into a legal doctrine in that decision.

Those justifications included Pope Alexander VI's 1493 papal bull Inter Caetera.

The result is nearly 70 million acres of Indigenous land in the United States that Indigenous people cannot fully own. Instead, they are "beneficial owners". The US government retains trust ownership. The Crown in Canada likewise holds Indigenous lands in trust.

The papal statement won't make any difference to the Johnson v. McIntosh ruling however. It can't change the law, says Miller.

But it's not a meaningless gesture, he adds.

If the Church's response includes a papal statement that pulls the threadbare moral justifications out from under Johnson v. McIntosh, that will be a shot heard round the world, he says.

"It has a symbolic, educative, name-and-shame importance."

Some countries are already severing their legal ties to Johnson v. McIntosh by signing on to the non-binding UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In 2021, Canada passed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

Its preamble declares, "all doctrines, policies and practices based on or advocating the superiority of peoples or individuals ... including the Doctrines of Discovery and terra nullius, are racist, scientifically false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially unjust".

Canada no longer wants anything to do with Johnson v. McIntosh or the Doctrine, a Canadian Department of Justice spokesman says.

"These ... ancient doctrines have no place in modern Canadian law and do not inform our ongoing relationship with First Nations, Inuit and Metis."

The Departmental spokesman says Canada's Supreme Court declared in a 2014 decision that terra nullius never applied in Canada.

Source

• NCR Online

They include indigenous peoples from across the world. One, Hemopereki Simon, is a research expert in indigenous politics and Te Tiriti.

"I have survived the settler colonial education system and have come out on top in research fields that allow me to critique and speak back to power," he says.

"In terms of cultural appropriation, the act by the Cree to offer the pope a warbonnet places all of our efforts on this subject into question."

He points to the indigenous Americans complaints "about white people's interpretation of indigeneity".

This includes significant criticism about warbonnets because of what they represent to indigeneity, he says.

"They show leadership and are given as a sign of mastery of war."

The chief's gift is like saying to Aboriginal Australia "you deserve to be called fauna".

An indigenous person who was raised as a Catholic, he says he struggles significantly with the Church's actions throughout the world, particularly its cover-ups.

"Significant change is required towards indigenous peoples," he says. The Catholic Church is responsible for legitimising colonisation.

"In this space, the conservative and flawed Ratzinger approach with a political apology is not enough."

Compensation and a commitment to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery are also needed, he suggests.

This could start with church leaders conceding that "in the indigenous world they are an invading force and indigenous peoples are actually humans.

"What is needed is balance to restore indigenous nations towards an agenda of decolonisation."

Simon notes reconciliation is a Christian-derived philosophy that does not reflect what is needed in the indigenous world.

"We require more than an apology."

He wonders how the Church is contributing to decolonisation and cultural restitution around the world.

It still maintains the infallibility of every Pontiff and all actions taken to date.

Just because our collective colonial wars are over doesn't mean the war with settler colonialism and its structures is over, he points out.

It celebrates the Church's war against the indigenous world since 1492, he says.

"With respect to the Cree on behalf of your indigenous brothers and sisters everywhere - but what the actual hell?"

The Church's purpose was to further the goals of the two invading settler colonial forces, being the white possessive state and the white possessive church, he says.

"In terms of cultural appropriation, the act ... places all of our efforts on this subject into question."

Chief Wilton Littlechild sees it differently

The Maskwacis Chief, Wilton Littlechild who gave Francis the headdress sees it differently.

"One of the things I learned [from my grandparents] is you don't criticise ... other culture's traditions."

As part of the traditional welcome many tribes give headdresses to dignitaries, he explains.

It was "tradition," repeated Littlechild.

"We decided at home, as a community, to welcome him with a gift because he [chose to come] into our territory," he says.

The headdress they gave the pope had belonged to the man who raised Littlechild - his late grandfather.

Source

• Native News Online
• NZ Herald

The Doctrine is a collection of papal teachings beginning in the 14th century.

The teachings (called papal bulls) blessed explorers' efforts to colonise and claim the lands of any people who were not Christian.

The explorers would then place both the land and the people under the sovereignty of European Christian rulers.

Among those wanting it gone are Indigenous Canadians, Canada's bishops and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Indigenous people in Canada have for years been calling for the Doctrine of Discovery to be rescinded.

One Indigenous group staged a protest about the Doctrine just before Pope Francis celebrated Mass last Thursday at Canada's national shrine.

Rescind the papal decrees underpinning the Doctrine! Repudiate the theories that legitimised the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property law today, they demanded.

Then two Indigenous women unfurled a banner at the altar. It read: "Rescind the Doctrine" in bright red and black letters. They took it down before Mass started.

Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has also been looking for action on the Doctrine. In 2015, the Commission listed its repudiation as one of 94 calls to action. It's still waiting.

Canada's bishops are clear about their views.

"Galvanised by the calls of our indigenous partners and by the Holy Father's remarks, we are working with the Vatican and those who have studied this issue, with the goal of issuing a new statement from the Church," they said.

"Canada's Bishops continue to reject and resist the ideas associated with the Doctrine of Discovery in the strongest possible way."

Professor of theology and religious studies, Massimo Faggioli, thinks Francis is unlikely to formally rescind the doctrine, though he should address it.

Francis himself is aware of the Doctrine's impact on indigenous Canadians.

He spent last week in Canada seeking to atone for the legacy and on Thursday added in another request for forgiveness from victims for the "evil" of clergy sexual abuse.

The doctrine led to the planned destruction of the families, languages, cultures and traditions of the Indigenous communities of Canada through the residential school system.

This was "genocide," Francis said during his return journey to Rome. It always has been a temptation for colonisers to think they were superior to the people whose land they were colonising.

There was even "a theologian, who was a bit crazy," who questioned whether the indigenous people of the Americas had souls," he added.

"This is the problem of every colonialism, even today."

He then pointed to modern forms of "ideological colonialism," which use requests for foreign assistance to force poorer countries to adopt policies that go against the values their people hold dear.

"This doctrine of colonialism truly is evil, it's unjust," Francis said.

Source

• Khaleej Times
• AP News
• Calgary Sun
• Catholic News Service

He says papal decrees - called bulls - supporting the "Doctrine of Discovery" (the Doctrine) provided justification for "both political and personal violence against indigenous peoples."

He wants "a public acknowledgment from the Holy Father of the harm these bulls have done to the indigenous population."

The Doctrine draws from a series of papal documents dating back to 1452.

These were also included in future documents: Indigenous peoples were read the Spanish conquistadors' "Requerimiento", proclaiming their land belonged to Spain and demanding they abide by the monarchy's and the pope's authority.

"This particular doctrine has been used to justify both political and personal violence against Indigenous nations, Indigenous peoples and their culture — their religious and their territorial identities," Lucia says.

As recently as 2005 the US Supreme Court ruled that repurchasing traditional tribal lands does not "unilaterally revive (the tribe's) ancient sovereignty" over it.

"I've been trying to bring attention to this question of why the church, if it really wants to seek restorative justice, can't just issue apologies," says David McCallum SJ who alerted Lucia to the historical facts.

A papal bull from Alexander VI's in 1493, for instance, gave Spanish explorers the freedom to colonize the Americas and to convert Native peoples to Catholicism.

Lucia says last US spring when the US bishops' conference (USCCB) discussed ministry to Native Alaskans and Native Americans, he asked about residential schools for indigenous children and the Doctrine.

These schools' legacy has been in the news lately after hundreds of unmarked graves were found at three former schools in Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked Francis to apologize — on Canadian soil — for the Church's role in this.

Up to 60 percent of Canada's 139 residential schools were run by the Catholic Church. An Indigenous delegation from Canada will meet Francis in December "to foster meaningful encounters of dialogue and healing."

The USCCB says it is watching the investigation "closely", pledging to "look for ways to be of assistance." However,

Lucia says he hasn't had any reaction from it about his concerns.

Although the Church rescinded the Doctrine centuries ago, this doesn't address the "enormity of the trauma and generational impact" the teachings had on Indigenous peoples, says McCallum.

There have been various Indigenous delegations to Rome - one in 2016 - to press the Vatican about the Doctrine.

"There have been responses ..., but they're not taking responsibility for anything," says Steven Newcomb, the Shawnee/Lenape co-founder of the Indigenous Law Institute, who led the 2016 delegation.

Numerous Protestant religious groups have rebuked the Doctrine, as did the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which called on Francis to rescind the Doctrine in 2014.

"Simple apologies are not sufficient," Newcomb says. "There needs to be a real reckoning."

Lucia agrees: "Even as a Church we are called to conversion. I think this might be one of those conversion moments."

Source

• Religion News Service
• Image: Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse

While not addressing the colonisation of Aotearoa specifically, popes have on several occasions repudiated and apologised for the doctrine of discovery going back as far as 1537.

What is the doctrine of discovery?

The Doctrine of Discovery and the attendant idea of terra nullius do not have a precise definition.

Essentially the idea is this: that sovereignty and land ownership were transferred to European Christians simply by dint of their arrival in the "New World."

Papal bulls issued by Pope Nicholas V Dum Diversas in 1452. and Pope Alexander VI issued Inter Caetera in 1493 provided the legal and political justification for European monarchs to conquer and claim lands inhabited by indigenous peoples.

"It is a shameful blight not only on our history here in New Zealand but right across the first nations world where an old, archaic and quite frankly outdated document is not repudiated by the Vatican," Tukaki says.

Apologies and repudiations have been made:

Pope John Paul II

• In 1992 in Santo Domingo on the 500th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing there, Pope John Paul II confessed and begged forgiveness for the sins of the Church in the Spanish conquest of America.
• He repeated a similar confession March 12, 2000, when, kneeling at the Holy Doors of the Great Jubilee. He begged forgiveness for Catholics who had violated "the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and [for showing] contempt for their cultures and religious traditions."

Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII's 1962 encyclical Pacem in Terris pointed toward the United Nations and its role in protecting human rights, says Fr. Michael Stogre, author of That the World May Believe: The Development of Papal Social Thought on Aboriginal Rights.

"Subsequent teaching, particularly from Vatican II on, has certainly abrogated that earlier teaching," Stogre said.

Pope Paul III
In 1537, Pope Paul III issued a bull Sublimus Dei in which he stated: "Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession…of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ.

And that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved."

This bull is controversial because it's unclear whether it was ever promulgated outside the Vatican.

In Medieval and Renaissance Europe it fell to popes to issue bulls, but it was the job of kings to promulgate and enforce them in their kingdoms.

Source

• newshub.co.nz
• edgenorth.ca
• catholicregister.org
• thespinoff.co.nz
• upstanderproject.org
• Image: thespinoff.co.nz

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States is calling on Pope Francis to clarify and repudiate any remaining legal status of what is known as the "Doctrine of Discovery".

The LCWR also wants the Pope to issue a pastoral statement to courts of settler nations, urging them to change laws derived from the doctrine.

The Doctrine of Discovery is a series of papal bulls, or decrees, which gave Christian explorers the right to lay claim to any land that was not inhabited by Christians and was available to be "discovered".

If its inhabitants could be converted, they might be spared. If not, they could be enslaved or killed.

The Doctrine of Discovery remains influential in legal circles and, since 1823, has been enshrined in US law.

It is often cited as a way of arguing that nomadic Native American Indians occupied the land, but did not own it.

In 2005, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited the doctrine in a land-claim ruling against the Oneidas nation.

Late last year, 13 Catholic groups, including the Loreto sisters, officially asked the Pope to rescind the decrees.

"When I learned about it, I was horrified," said Loreto Sister Maureen Fiedler, who has sent a letter to the Pope on the subject.

Her order marked its 200th anniversary by challenging "the papal sanctioning of Christian enslavement and power over non-Christians".

US indigenous groups have sought to overturn the doctrine since at least 1984.

In its 2007 Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations condemned policies like the Doctrine of Discovery.

If the Church was to disavow the doctrine, it would remove a legal argument against tribal land claims, said Oren Lyons, a faith keeper of the Turtle clan in the Onondaga nation.

The Vatican has said that later bulls and papal apologies show the Church no longer supports the doctrine.

"The wrongs done to the indigenous people need to be honestly acknowledged," Saint John Paul II said in 1998.

He also delivered a sweeping apology in 2000 for the Church's mistreatment of groups, including indigenous peoples.

Sources

• Huffington Post
• New York Daily News
• Image: Legends of America