Slavery
While the enterprising explorers of Spain and Portugal were quick to enslave the indigenous peoples they met in Africa and the New World, some popes spoke out against the practice. In 1435, Pope Eugene IV had issued an attack on slavery in his papal bull Sicut Dudum, which included the excommunication of all those who engaged in the slave trade. However, a form of indentured servitude was allowed, being similar to a peasant's duty to his liege lord in Europe.
In the wake of Columbus' landing in the New World, Pope Alexander was asked by the Spanish monarchy to confirm their ownership of these newly found lands. The bulls issued by Pope Alexander VI : "Eximiae devotionis" (3 May 1493), "Inter Caetera" (4 May 1493) and "Dudum Siquidem" (23 September 1493), granted similar rights to Spain with respect to the newly discovered lands in the Americas as Pope Nicholas V had previously conferred with the bulls "Romanus Pontifex" and "Dum Diversas". Morales Padron (1979) concludes that these bulls gave power to enslave the natives. Minnich (2005) asserts that this "slave trade" was permitted to facilitate conversions to Christianity. Other historians and Vatican scholars strongly disagree with these accusations and assert that Pope Alexander VI never gave his approval to the practice of slavery. Other later popes, such as Pope Benedict XIV in Immensa Pastorium (1741), and Pope Gregory XVI in his letter In Supremo Apostolatus (1839), continued to condemn slavery.
Thornberry (2002) asserts that "Inter Caetera" was applied in the "Requerimiento" which was read to American Indians (who could not understand the colonisers' language) before hostilities against them began. They were given the option to accept the authority of the Pope and Spanish crown or face being attacked and subjugated. In 1993, the Indigenous Law Institute called on Pope John Paul II to revoke "Inter Caetera" and to make reparation for "this unreasonable historical grief". This was followed by a similar appeal in 1994 by the Parliament of World Religions.
Read more about this topic: Pope Alexander VI
Famous quotes containing the word slavery:
“This might be the end of the world. If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings. Only a little higher than apes. True that we were stupid and ugly and lazy and dirty and, unlucky and worst of all, that God Himself hated us and ordained us to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, forever and ever, world without end.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s nature—opposition to it, is [in?] his love of justice.... Repeal the Missouri compromise—repeal all compromises—repeal the declaration of independence—repeal all past history, you still can not repeal human nature. It still will be the abundance of man’s heart, that slavery extension is wrong; and out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will continue to speak.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)