Leo XIV recognizes that society and the Church “were not always” up to par during the conquest of America

Pope Leo XIV has stated that society and the Catholic Church “were not always” up to par at the time of the discovery and conquest of America. This was indicated this Monday during his speech before the Congress of Deputies, within the framework of his trip to Spain.

Robert Prevost has remembered the Catholic Kings Isabella and Ferdinand, referring to “that moment when Spain was faced with historical responsibilities of a universal nature.”

“We must recognize that society and the Church itself were not always up to the intuitions that found echo in their own Christian tradition,” he explained, while praising the position taken by “the School of Salamanca – and in a particular way, Brother Francisco de Vitoria along with other Dominicans and Jesuits -“.

“In that university headquarters, five hundred years ago, when new worlds and immense possibilities were opening up in the relationships between peoples, some teachers understood that reason could not be invoked to give legitimacy to whatever strength or interest was presented as convenient. They thus introduced into historical discernment the question about the irreducible value of every human being and the moral limits of power,” he noted.

In a subtle way, Leo XIV had already referred to the evangelization of the Latin American peoples in his message on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Native Peoples, which was celebrated between October 14 and 16. “The extensive history of evangelization that our native peoples have known, frequently contemplating the landscapes of Latin America and the Caribbean, is full of ‘lights and shadows,'” the Pontiff wrote last year.

OTHER POPES

Prevost is not the first pope to refer to abuses during the conquest of America. In 2015, Francis asked for forgiveness for the “crimes” committed “in the name of God” during the Conquest of America, taking advantage of his intervention at a meeting with popular movements from around the world in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz. Later, in a letter, the first Latin American pope also asked Mexico for forgiveness for the “sins” and actions that did not contribute to evangelization.

Nor was he the first to refer to the excesses in the conquest of America, already in 1992, when 500 years passed since the discovery of America, John Paul II asked for forgiveness for the abuses of the Church against the indigenous people during his visit to the Dominican Republic. Also in 2007, after his trip to Brazil, Benedict XVI pointed out that one cannot ignore the “shadows” that accompanied the evangelization of the American continent nor the “suffering” and “injustices” inflicted by the colonizers on the indigenous populations.

In 2023, under the Pontificate of Francis, the dicasteries for Culture and Education and for the Service of Integral Human Development issued a joint statement to reject the “Doctrine of Discovery.” “It is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church,” they emphasized.

In this way, they pointed out that historical research clearly demonstrates that the papal documents in question, written in a specific historical period and related to political issues, “have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.”

At the same time, they assured that the Church recognizes that these papal bulls “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples.”

“The Church is also aware of the fact that the content of these documents has been manipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powers, to justify immoral acts against indigenous populations, sometimes carried out without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities,” they added to emphasize that it is fair to recognize these “errors”, the “terrible effects” of assimilation policies and the “pain” experienced by indigenous populations, as well as ask for forgiveness.

KING PHILIP ADMITTED THAT THERE WAS “MUCH ABUSE”

Precisely, this same year, King Felipe VI admitted that there was “a lot of abuse” during the conquest of America and behaviors of which he “should not feel proud.” This is the first time that the monarch spoke about the issue despite the letter sent to him in 2019 by the then Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to demand an apology from the Crown for the “wrongs” committed.

In fact, the lack of response to this letter was the reason given by the current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, for not inviting the King to his inauguration in October 2024. However, the monarch will attend the soccer match between the Spanish team and Uruguay on June 26 in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, after accepting Sheinbaum’s invitation, issued on February 8, before the statements of Felipe VI, who They occurred in March. Precisely, next November the Ibero-American Summit will be held in Madrid, to which the Mexican president is invited.

The Spanish Government, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, recognized in October last year the “injustice” and “pain” to the indigenous peoples by Spain.