Pope Paul III, born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549.
Bartolomé de las Casas, OP was a Spanish clergyman, writer, and activist best known for his work as a historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman, then became a Dominican friar. He was appointed as the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians". His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies. He described the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples.
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies is an account written by the Spanish Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas in 1542 about the mistreatment of and atrocities committed against the indigenous peoples of the Americas in colonial times and sent to then Prince Philip II of Spain.
Christian views on slavery are varied regionally, historically and spiritually. Slavery in various forms has been a part of the social environment for much of Christianity's history, spanning well over eighteen centuries. Saint Augustine described slavery as being against God's intention and resulting from sin. In the eighteenth century the abolition movement took shape among Christians across the globe.
Rabinal is a small town, with a population of 15,157, located in the Guatemalan department of Baja Verapaz, at 15°5′4.70″N90°29′20.50″W. It serves as the administrative seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. The municipality covers an area of 336 km2 with a population of 40,797. The local people are predominantly Achi Maya Native Americans who speak the Achi Maya language.
Slavery in the Spanish American colonies was an economic and social institution which existed throughout the Spanish Empire including Spain itself. Indigenous peoples were enslaved and their populations decimated. Subsequently enslaved Africans were brought over. Native people were also subjected to forced conversions and conscription.
Tactic is a town and a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz. It is situated at 1,465 m above sea level. The municipality has a population of 38,052 and covers an area of 102 km². At the 2018 census, the population of the Tactic town was 15,213. The languages spoken in Tactic are predominantly Spanish, Poqomchiʼ, and Q'eqchi'.
Sublimis Deus is a Papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on June 2, 1537, which forbids the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and all other indigenous people who could be discovered later or previously known. It states that the Indians are fully rational human beings who have rights to freedom and property, even if they are heathen. Another related document is the ecclesiastical letter Pastorale officium, issued May 29, 1537, and usually seen as a companion document to Sublimis Deus.
The Valladolid debate (1550–1551) was the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of Indigenous people by European colonizers. Held in the Colegio de San Gregorio, in the Spanish city of Valladolid, it was a moral and theological debate about the conquest of the Americas, its justification for the conversion to Catholicism, and more specifically about the relations between the European settlers and the natives of the New World. It consisted of a number of opposing views about the way natives were to be integrated into Spanish society, their conversion to Catholicism, and their rights.
Romanus Pontifex is the title of at least three papal bulls:
The Catholic Church during the Age of Discovery inaugurated a major effort to spread Christianity in the New World and to convert the indigenous peoples of the Americas and other indigenous peoples. The evangelical effort was a major part of, and a justification for, the military conquests of European powers such as Portugal, Spain, and France. Christian missions to the indigenous peoples ran hand-in-hand with the colonial efforts of Catholic nations. In the Americas and other colonies in Asia, and Africa, most missions were run by religious orders such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Jesuits. In Mexico, the early systematic evangelization by mendicants came to be known as the "Spiritual Conquest of Mexico".
Sicut dudum was a papal bull promulgated by Pope Eugene IV in Florence on January 13, 1435, which forbade the enslavement of the natives of the Canary Islands who had converted, or were converting to, Christianity. Sicut dudum was meant to reinforce Creator Omnium, issued the previous year, condemning Portuguese slave raids in the Canary Islands.
Antonio de Montesinos or Antonio Montesino, OP was a Spanish Dominican friar who was a missionary on the island of Hispaniola. With the backing of Pedro de Córdoba and his Dominican community at Santo Domingo, Montesinos was the first European to publicly denounce the enslavement and harsh treatment of the indigenous peoples of the island. His censure initiated an enduring struggle to reform the Spanish conduct towards all indigenous people in the New World. Montesinos' outspoken criticism influenced Bartolomé de las Casas to head the humane treatment of Indians movement.
The tradition of the Catholic Church claims it began with Jesus Christ and his teachings; the Catholic tradition considers that the Church is a continuation of the early Christian community established by the Disciples of Jesus. The Church considers its bishops to be the successors to Jesus's apostles and the Church's leader, the Bishop of Rome, to be the sole successor to St Peter who ministered in Rome in the first century AD after his appointment by Jesus as head of the Church. By the end of the 2nd century, bishops began congregating in regional synods to resolve doctrinal and administrative issues. Historian Eamon Duffy claims that by the 3rd century, the church at Rome might even function as a court of appeal on doctrinal issues.
In 16th-century Christianity, Protestantism came to the forefront and marked a significant change in the Christian world.
Creator Omnium was a papal bull issued by Pope Eugene IV in 1434 which excommunicated anyone who enslaves Christians of the Canary Islands.
The Catholic Church and slavery have a long and complicated history. Slavery was practiced and accepted by many cultures and religions around the world throughout history, including in ancient Rome. Passages in the Old Testament sanctioned forms of temporal slavery for Israelites as a means to repay a debt. Slaves, captured in war or purchased, and their children were enslaved for life. After Christianity was legalized under the Roman empire, sentiment grew that many kinds of slavery were incompatible with Christian justice. Views ranged from rejecting all forms of slavery to accepting slavery subject to certain restrictions. The Christian West almost entirely enforced that a free Christian could not be enslaved, for example as a captive in war. However, this was not consistently applied throughout history. The Middle Ages witnessed the emergence of orders of monks such as the Mercedarians who focused on ransoming Christian slaves. By the end of the Medieval period, enslavement of Christians had been largely abolished throughout Europe, although enslavement of non-Christians remained permissible and was revived in Spain and Portugal. Slavery remained a subject of debate within the Church for centuries, with several Popes issuing bulls on the issue, such as Sublimis Deus.
The Catholic Church in Latin America began with the Spanish colonization of the Americas and continues up to the present day.
Natural slavery is the argument set forth in Aristotle's Politics that some people are slaves by nature, while others are slaves solely by law or convention.
Protector of the Indians was an administrative office of the Spanish colonies that deemed themselves responsible for attending to the well-being of the native populations by providing detailed witness accounts of mistreatment in an attempt to relay their struggles and a voice speaking on their behalf in courts, reporting back to the King of Spain. The establishment of the administration of the Protector of the Indians is due in part to Bartolomé de las Casas – the first Protector of the American Indians, and Fray Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros, the great Cardinal Regent of Spain. Throughout this era, the King of Spain gained information regarding the treatment of native peoples through Bartolomé de las Casas and Fray Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros. Bartolomé de las Casas was one of the first Europeans to set foot into the new hemisphere. He later dedicated his life to ending the harsh treatment of Indigenous Americans. The institution of the Protectors of the Indians rested on the idea that rulers should appoint officials to defend, both within and outside of the courts of justice, individuals who were less favored.
