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August 11 - October 9, 2017
The net result was that the Indians were exploited and decimated, while Spaniards on both sides of the ocean deliberated as to what was the best course to follow.
In a series of bulls from 1493 to 1510, Popes Alexander VI and Julius II gave enormous authority to the Spanish crown.
the church in Spanish America had very few direct dealings with Rome, and became practically a national church under the leadership of the Spanish kings and their appointees.
Those who carried out missionary work—usually Franciscans, Dominicans, or Jesuits—lived among the people, and knew their plight.
many friars became the defenders of the Indians against the depredations of European settlers.
from the very beginning, there were two faces to the Roman Catholic Church in Spanish America:
while most of the bishops were loyalists, many parish priests and friars cast their lot with the rebels.
the “two faces of the church” that began taking shape in the early stages of colonization would continue to exist side-by-side for centuries.
Local authorities tried to silence Montesinos, but his fellow Dominicans rallied to his support, and eventually the dispute reached the court in Spain.
supposedly in order to civilize them and to teach them Christian doctrine, groups of them were “entrusted” to a settler. In exchange for the settler’s guidance, the Indians were to work for him.
openly declared that Christian faith was incompatible with the exploitation of the Indians by the Spanish.
There he spent thirty-nine years of advocacy for the Indians, partly through direct appeals and partly through his books.
many came to doubt the morality of the entire Spanish enterprise in the New World.
These laws limited the power of the Spanish settlers over the Indians, and outlawed war against any Indians who were willing to live in peace with the Spanish.
Throughout the colonial period, however, there were in Spanish America Christians who protested against the exploitation of the Indians, and who devoted their lives to the betterment of their lot.
Their mistreatment, exploitation, and rape by the Spaniards had provoked the Indians to revolt, and they had destroyed the fort and killed the entire garrison.
orders arrived from Spain that the Indians were to live in their own villages, each with a representative of the Spanish government and a chaplain.
In the end, forced labor, diseases imported by the Spanish, and mass suicides destroyed most of the native population.
The loss of Indian labor led the Spanish to import black slaves.
He soon recanted, and became a defender of blacks as well as of Indians.
the few theologians who objected did so, not on the basis of opposition to slavery, but rather because they had doubts as to how the profits should be distributed.
an odd combination of political expediency and fanatical zeal set the tone for Spanish religious policies in Mexico.
the friars would live in poverty, and would be able to set a good example for the natives, whereas the secular priests and prelates would live in scandalous luxury and would not be actively interested in the conversion of the Indians.
On the other hand, it seemed clear to the Indians that the Christian God had defeated their own gods,
The Franciscan missionaries baptized any who wished to receive the holy rite,
the dispute was settled by Pope Paul III, who declared that there had been no sin in the previous simplified baptismal rites, but that from that time on certain directives must be followed.
He was convinced that the church was in need of reformation, and that this would be achieved by proper instruction of the faithful and by the development of an educated priesthood.
what was said was that if they learned how to read and write they would be able to communicate among themselves from one ocean to the other, and that this would make them dangerous.
they were not permitted to make vows, nor to become even lay brothers.
But no matter what may be the events behind it, the legend itself is a vindication of the oppressed Indian over against the Spanish bishop.
After the initial conquest, the Spanish continued moving north in quest of two illusory goals.
In Baja California, missionaries were more successful than colonizers and explorers.
the Franciscans’ main thrust was directly north, where conquistadores searched for the fabled Seven Cities.
Spanish expansion from Mexico was also directed westward, across the Pacific.
eventually the entire archipelago was conquered.
they were unwilling to educate the Filipinos, and for that reason this project failed.
It seems that the main reason why he befriended the Indians was that he was convinced that this was the best way to obtain gold and women from them.
He learned the language of the Indians and, with a single exception, refrained from violence against them.
there were still vast areas that the Spanish had not explored, where the Indians kept their ancient religions and government.
It was the presence of the French in the area that finally forced the Spanish to invest the resources necessary to take possession of it.
most of the French settlers were Protestants.
In all these lands most of the Spanish were either military or missionaries.
The Spanish had provoked the hostility of the Indians, and therefore many missionaries were killed as soon as they lacked the protection of Spanish arms.
Bastidas was convinced that Indians should be treated humanely, and for that reason the other settlers forced him to return to Hispaniola.
soon the oppressed Indians and enslaved blacks—they were imported from a very early date—learned that if their masters were about to punish them, all they had to do was to cry, “I deny God,” which put them under the somewhat more benevolent jurisdiction of the Inquisition.
Luis Beltrán was one of the hundreds of missionaries who sought to bring Christianity to the Indians, and to undo the evil done by the conquistadores and the settlers.
his preaching about justice often resounded with echoes of the Old Testament prophets.
Claver insisted that these were brothers in Christ, to be treated as equals.
he would return and begin trying to communicate the gospel to those who were well enough to listen to him.
This was all done in a warm spirit of friendliness and sometimes even humor.
