An End to the Doctrine of Discovery

Pope Francis is in the hospital with a respiratory illness and we can all pray for his recovery. He is 86 years old and the demands of Holy Week and Easter are just days away. It takes stamina for any pastor or priest to navigate through this most important eight days in the Christian year, let along for an octogenarian with a wonky knee and only part of one lung. 

While this news from the Vatican has been at the forefront, I would respectfully offer that a much more important story has emerged from the Holy See this morning. This is the announcement that the Roman Catholic Church will rescind the Doctrine of Discovery. This centuries-old doctrine facilitated one of the most egregious land grabs and violations of the rights of Indigenous peoples ever devised. When Pope Francis visited Canada last year on his apology tour it was hoped that this repudiation would be included but it didn't happen. 

I think this portion of the CBC report will do a much better job than I can in describing what this means. I imagine that Indigenous peoples around the world will be exclaiming "finally!" 

The Vatican on Thursday formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, the theories backed by 15th-century papal bulls that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Indigenous lands and form the basis of some property law today.

A Vatican statement said the 15th-century papal bulls, or decrees, "did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples" and have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.

It said the documents had been "manipulated" for political purposes by colonial powers "to justify immoral acts against Indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesial authorities."

The statement, from the Vatican's development and education offices, said it was right to "recognize these errors," acknowledge the terrible effects of colonial-era assimilation policies on Indigenous peoples and ask for their forgiveness.

The statement was a response to decades of demands from Indigenous people for the Vatican to formally rescind the papal bulls that provided the Portuguese and Spanish kingdoms the religious backing to expand their territories in Africa and the Americas for the sake of spreading Christianity.