#doctrine of discovery

[thoughtportal]

More than five centuries after it was formulated in a series of papal decrees, the Vatican issued a formal announcement on March 30 repudiating the Euro-supremacist “Doctrine of Discovery.” In essence, the “doctrine” said that all lands not occupied by “Christians” passed into the hands of the European conquerors as soon as they were “discovered,” and their inhabitants enslaved.

Composed of decrees issued between 1452 and 1497, it served as the quasi-legal justification for the expropriation of entire continents in the name of spreading the Catholic faith. The repudiation by the Pope is the culmination of decades of struggle by Indigenous peoples in the United States, Canada and around the world demanding its withdrawal.

But while the Pope has now renounced it, the U.S. Supreme Court has not. The high court continues to treat the “doctrine” as an integral basis of U.S. law, particularly in regard to the rights — or lack thereof — of Native peoples.

Most notable in recent times was a 2005 decision authored by the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg which invoked the “Doctrine of Discovery” in her majority ruling against the Oneida Indian Nation. The Oneidas were seeking to recover lands and rights in central New York State guaranteed to them under the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua treaty with the U.S., signed by George Washington, then president.

The Oneidas, one of the six nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy were awarded 300,000 acres “in perpetuity” by the treaty. By the 20th century, nearly all of that land had been taken over. In the 1970s, the Oneidas began buying small parcels on what had been their reservation land, including in the small city of Sherill, New York. They objected to the demand by the city that they pay property taxes on the basis that they were a sovereign nation. While the Oneidas won in lower federal courts, the Supreme Court ruled against them 8-1, with Ginsburg authoring the decision:

“Under the Doctrine of Discovery, title to the land occupied by Indians when the colonists arrived became vested in the sovereign – first the discovering European nation and later the original states and the United States . . .

“Given the longstanding non-Indian character of the area and its inhabitants, the regulatory authority constantly exercised by New York State and its counties and towns, and the Oneidas’ long delay in seeking judicial relief against parties other than the United States, we hold that the tribe cannot unilaterally revive its ancient sovereignty, in whole or in part, over the parcels at issue.”

In 2020, the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote upheld the right of Native nations to reservations that would have included nearly half of Oklahoma. While this was a victory for a coalition of Native nations, right-wing justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion upholding the government’s power to deny the right of self-determination to Indian peoples.

“Once a reservation is established, it retains that status until Congress explicitly indicates otherwise,” wrote Gorsuch. “Only Congress can alter the terms of an Indian treaty by diminishing a reservation, and its intent to do so must be clear and plain.”

How did a loathsome “doctrine” authored in feudal times come to have what liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices alike consider a legitimate basis in U.S. law?

It was the Supreme Court itself that incorporated the “doctrine” into U.S. law, which became foundational in dealing with Native nations, in a key 1823 case, Johnson v. McIntosh.

The decision by Chief Justice John Marshall, declared that, in keeping with the “Doctrine of Discovery,” Native people had only the “right to occupancy” of land and not the right to title or ownership. Only the federal government, Marshall ruled, could own and sell Native lands and that “the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands”

Following the Vatican’s repudiation, the struggle will intensify for the U.S. government to do the same.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Vatican's formal repudiation of colonial-era concepts that legitimized the seizure of Indigenous lands marked a symbolic step forward on Thursday, but its impact on modern policy will be the true measure of change, say Indigenous leaders. The Doctrine of Discovery, a set of theories backed by 15th-century papal bulls, continues to form the foundation 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. "On the surface it sounds good, it looks good ... but there has to be a fundamental change in attitudes, behaviour, laws and policies from that statement," Ernie Daniels, the former chief of Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba, said in an interview on Thursday.

[...]

"The Vatican seems to be washing its hands of its role in the whole colonization of our lands, and to me it would be so simple to just accept the fact that they played a role," [Ghislain Picard] said.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[cupsofsilver]

Y’all this is huge news. Holy shit (literally).

[ausetkmt]

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHATTEL SLAVERY BY THE CATHOLIC POPE NICHOLAS V 6/18/1452

Papal Bull Dum Diversas 18 June, 1452

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Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas on 18 June, 1452. It authorised Alfonso V of Portugal to reduce any “Saracens (Muslims) and pagans and any other unbelievers” to perpetual slavery.

This facilitated the Portuguese slave trade from West Africa.

The same pope wrote the bull Romanus Pontifex on January 5, 1455 to the same Alfonso. As a follow-up to the Dum diversas, it extended to the Catholic nations of Europe dominion over discovered lands during the Age of Discovery. Along with sanctifying the seizure of non-Christian lands, it encouraged the enslavement of native, non-Christian peoples in Africa and the New World.

“We weighing all and singular the premises with due meditation, and noting that since we had formerly by other letters of ours granted among other things free and ample faculty to the aforesaid King Alfonso – to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit – by having secured the said faculty, the said King Alfonso, or, by his authority, the aforesaid infante, justly and lawfully has acquired and possessed, and doth possess, these islands, lands, harbors, and seas, and they do of right belong and pertain to the said King Alfonso and his successors”.

In 1493 Alexander VI issued the bull Inter Caetera stating one Christian nation did not have the right to establish dominion over lands previously dominated by another Christian nation, thus establishing the Law of Nations. Together, the Dum Diversas, the Romanus Pontifex and the Inter Caetera came to serve as the basis and justification for the Doctrine of Discovery, the global slave-trade of the 15th and 16th centuries, and the Age of Imperialism.  

Dum Diversas (Latin Original).

Papal Bulls

SUGGESTED CITATION

Indigenous Values Initiative, "Dum Diversas," Doctrine of Discovery Project (23 July 2018), https://doctrineofdiscovery.org/dum-diversas/.

[seileach67]

The pope's document from the 1500s blows me away

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/harry-potter-v-doctrine-of-discovery/

Harry Potter v. Doctrine of Discovery

I threw a DVD  of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” into my player last night.  I needed a touch of innocence to block out the television news.  Hard to accept but the real world had grown more fantastical, dark, and insane, than makebelieve. In the episode I selected, Neville Longbottom proves to be a hero. Knowing his friends Harry, Hermione, and Ron intend to break curfew and dishonor Gryffindor, he blocks their escape. “I’ll fight you,” he says shakily, his small fists rolled into balls to prove he means what he says. In the real world, Nikki Halley could have used Longbottom’s courage.  She accused Donald Trump of being unhinged, but like the rest of her peers in the Republican Party, she endorsed him. Fear rather than admiration was the reason. Each of them preferred to suffer the reign of an avowed tyrant and his band of Christian Nationalists rather than risk their careers.    To take a stand against allies and friends is difficult as studies show.  In turbulent times, only the brave are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.  Of the 7 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, for example, only 2 survived the next election.  The rest faded away though the nation owes them a debt.    Though they may not know it, Trump and his band of White Christian Nationalists can trace their sense of a right to govern to the Doctrine of Discovery. Written in 1493, this Papal Bull was an answer to a question that troubled Christopher Columbus.  After returning from the New World with a plan to set out again, he wondered how he should treat the inhabitants of these faraway lands. The Holy See’s answer was unequivocal. Columbus owed heathens nothing except to convert them to the faith.   Chief Justice John Marshall answered the same question concerning American Indian rights in Johnson v. McIntosh  (1823)  When white Christian farmers settled on lands belonging to the Oneida Nation, the Indians sued. Marshall relied on the Doctrine of Discover in his response.  He defined the Indians as “occupiers” of the land, but assigned ownership to the white Christians. It may surprise some to learn this prejudice persisted in American law as late as 2005. That was the year Ruth Bader Ginsberg decided a case on the same Papal grounds even though Pope Francis had rescinded the Bull in 2003.  PPRI,  a nonprofit research group that focuses on the intersection of religion, culture, and politics, published a poll regarding the Doctrine of Discovery in 2022.  The question they asked was, “Do you agree or disagree that America was designed by God to be a promised land for European Christians?” Thirty percent of those who answered agreed with the statement. Republicans form the nucleus of Christianity in this country so a number of those who replied were probably Christian conservatives. In any case, this nostalgia for injustices of the past comes at a time of demographic change in the United States.  “Self-identified Republicans today are 70 percent white and Christian in a country that is only 42% white and Christian.” (“Finding the Hidden Roots of White Supremacy,” by Robert P. Jones, FFRF, May 2024, pg. 13.) Understandably, in 2020, when a defeated Trump claimed the election was rigged, the Christian right believed him and their response grew to a full-throated rage that culminated in an assault upon our nation’s Capitol. The rebellion was quelled but the fury remained, erupting sporadically in violence or threats of violence. During this period of turbulence, the Supreme Court seems to be administering law and order with an uneven hand.  Many who participated in the Capito riot have gone to jail.  On the other hand, the High Court has made it increasingly difficult to prosecute verbal assault. In Counterman v. Colorado, for example, the Supreme Court ruled that violent speech has First Amendment protection and is prosecutable only if the perpetrator has “some subjective understanding of the threatening nature of his statements.”    Political threats come from all sides of the philosophical spectrum, of course, but they are increasing in number and the range of those targeted is widening. In 2021, the National League of Cities published a poll that shows public servants have come under heavy assault.  The political climate has become so toxic that a former head of the Republican Party told 60 Minutes he went along with a scheme to overturn the 2020 election because he was “scared to death.” Likewise, former Georgia Governor, Roy Barnes  admitted he refused to assist district attorney Farni Willis in her prosecution of Donald Trump because  “I wasn’t going to live with bodyguards for the rest of my life.” History informs us that defending our democracy takes courage.  In a speech given at Harvard University, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor reminded us of this fact when she praised the jurists who ended segregation in our public schools. (Brown v. Board of Education)  “They were brave men who believed in the power of law to form that more perfect union, and I believe it,” she said.  We all need to believe it for we have stumbled upon a time when the assault upon our democracy is coming not only from external enemies but from our fellow citizens.  I refer to those who defend the idea that some of us are occupiers and others are owners. In an earlier blog, I predicted a blue wave was coming. The prediction wasn’t magical thinking.  That wave will arrive come November. In a free land, ordinary people like Neville Longbottom will always rise to defend their country in a time of crisis.    

[journey2life]

2022 Reading List + Other Learning Notes {#tywlife}

This particular list includes a lot of documentaries and video content as well. Links have been included to the material. There is so SO much more, however. I've been consuming so much content in the past 2 years. I'm grateful more content has been made.

*New for 2022: I’ve started to track “unfinished”books as well. These are books I’ve decided not to continue reading for the sake of “completing” the task. It’s me realizing the book and ideas in it are not for me anymore. Perhaps at this particularly moment in my life. But I’m practicing listening to myself and learning to move on/let go when I’ve recognized and felt something that’s not…

[sublimeobservationarcade]

What Is The Doctrine Of Discovery?

The Doctrine Of Discovery In 1493, God’s official head honcho on Earth, released a Papal decree, which was called The Doctrine of Discovery. This was the green light from the Pope that stealing, killing, and enslaving non-Christians was okey dokey. That explorers and settlers could do whatever they thought necessary to conquer and colonise the new world. Christopher Colombus had just discovered…

[minnesotafollower]

Roman Catholic Church Rejects Doctrine of Discovery

In the 15th century, the Roman Catholic Church issued several papal bulls announcing what became known as the doctrine of discovery that authorized various European powers to conquer the lands of non-Christians. In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued the bull Dum Diversas, which authorized King Alfonzo of Portugal to “subjugate the Saracens and pagans and other unbelievers and enemies of Christ” and…

[tatterdemallionsails]

I love this woman so damned much! This article is from June of last year, but no less relevant.

Warning: This story contains distressing details.

Songwriter, educator and human rights advocate Buffy Sainte-Marie says the Pope’s upcoming visit to Canada and expected apology for the church’s involvement in the residential school system won’t mean a thing if he doesn’t call for the dissolution of the Doctrine of Discovery.

“The apology is just the beginning, of course,” she said.

The doctrine is an international framework based on a series of decrees from the Pope, called “papal bulls,” that were released in the 1400 and 1500s. This framework laid the legal and moral foundation for how Canada and other countries came to be colonized by European settlers.

As Sainte-Marie put it, “The Doctrine of Discovery essentially says it’s okay if you’re a [Christian] European explorer … to go anywhere in the world and either convert people and enslave, or you’ve got to kill them.”

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[ncfcatalyst]

Vatican repudiates Doctrine of Discovery 600 years after its inception

600 years after creating the Doctrine of Discovery, the Catholic church is repudiating it. On Mar. 30, the Vatican, Roman Catholicism’s governmental body, announced it was “repudiat[ing] those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of indigenous peoples including…the Doctrine of Discovery.”   The Doctrine of Discovery was written in 1452 C.E. as part of a series of papal…

[spokanefavs]

The Vatican is rejecting the Doctrine of Discovery and Rebecca Tallent says Indigenous people are saying 'at last'

"After 571 years, on March 30 the Vatican finally rejected its “Doctrine of Discovery.” The doctrine sanctioned the conquest, colonization and exploitation of non-Christian people and territories.

The sound from the Americas at the announcement was a collective “at last” by Indigenous people who for generations had demanded reversal of the 1452 papal bulls.

The doctrine was fully developed by a series of 15th century papal bulls and creating the doctrine was responsible of the seizure of lands, enslavement, and exploitation of Indigenous people for more than 500 years."

[locustheologicus]

This is a fairly important social statement. This official statement is the product of deep reflections from dialogues with indigenous communities over time and especially most recently by our own Pope Francis. The heart of the message is the following:

In no uncertain terms, the Church’s magisterium upholds the respect due to every human being. The Catholic Church therefore 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”.

The statement recognizes the deep inconsistencies that these Papal policies had with the central tenants of our faith and the social doctrine that we now call Catholic Social Teaching.

The Church instead upholds the great prophetic work of those like Bartolomeo De Las Casas, Antonio de Montesinos and the Dominican and Jesuit missionaries that countered colonial oppression.

The statement also goes on to highlight one of the first social doctrines that was born during this time, the 1537 Papal Bull by Pope Paul III Sublimis Deus, which said:

notwithstanding whatever may have been or may be said to the contrary, the said 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; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.

At the heart of the Christian faith is an ethic of love that is universal and all-encompassing. This ethic implies with it and expectation for justice, a justice that protects the dignity and rights of all. While our Catholic social doctrine recognizes all that, it also recognizes that we must be attentive to the marginalized and vulnerable communities that can be sidelined by the powers that be. Once upon a time, our Church was a social power that played a conflicted role. While certain missionaries and Church leaders, like Paul III, defended the social doctrine of our faith, other notorios pontiffs, like Alexander VI, and Church leaders allowed the faith to be compromised for social and economic benefits. This is what is being publically repudiated today.

This statement should be an interesting point of reflection for our Catholic communities to hopefully further consider the place of indigenous rights and culture in the midst of our own conflicted historical role. The USCCB and the Canadian Bishops have just recently posted their own joint statement and have even planned an event for this purpose.

The centuries of history at issue are complex, and the term “doctrine of discovery” has taken on various legal and political interpretations that merit further historical study and understanding. The experiences and histories of different countries and different Native and Indigenous peoples are distinct, and deserve further inquiry, although there are also opportunities for meaningful common understandings as well. As a Church, it is important for us to fully understand how our words have been used and misused to justify acts that would be abhorrent to Jesus Christ. We hope for more dialogue among Indigenous and Catholic scholars to promote greater and wider understanding of this difficult history. To that end, the USCCB and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops are exploring how they may support an academic symposium.

The statement does not say much about what we can expect from this symposium but I for one am excited to see where this will lead our local Church.

[ausetkmt]

Dum Diversas or how the Catholic Church created slavery for its funding

Many people don't understand the direct connection between the Catholic church and slavery. what we all need to know is that dum(b) diversas was never intended to rule the world. just create unlimited fundage for a select group of privileged Europeans.

The very fact that you think you should be paid for something simply because you discovered it was there; even though it was there all the time - is absolute nonsense

[realjaysumlin]

The Doctrine of Discovery | Friends Committee On National Legislation

Please don't tell me anything about how some shit religion like Christianity is good for Black Indigenous People globally because I know this is international law that is still relevant today.

The European colonizers utilized the Christian Doctrine of Discovery as a justification for their conquest and domination of indigenous peoples across the globe. This doctrine, originating from a series of papal bulls issued in the 15th century, granted European powers the right to claim lands and territories that were not inhabited by Christians..

This provided a moral and legal basis for the colonization of vast regions in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The colonizers used military power to subjugate and control indigenous populations, often resorting to violence, murder, and enslavement to achieve their goals. The devastating impact of European colonization on indigenous peoples cannot be overstated, as it led to the destruction of cultures, the loss of land and resources, and the decimation of populations through disease, warfare, and forced labor.

The legacy of this brutal history continues to shape the world we live in today, highlighting the need for reconciliation and justice for the descendants of those who suffered under the yoke of colonialism. I can't do anything with evil and I don't care how anyone can justify this shit religion on anyone who knows the history and the laws that still exist today.