Chapter 11 – The Church Claims the Americas

Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503), Servant of the Servants of God, as incumbent of the throne of the Blessed Peter, was the heir, not only to the accumulated authority of all his papal predecessors, but also to their decrees, tenets and beliefs, dominated by the portentous Donation of Constantine – the foundation stone upon which the papacy, and thus the Catholic Church, had erected all its claims to territorial sovereignty. To Pope Alexander VI, like all the popes before him, the spirit and the letter of the Donation had to be observed, maintained and practiced by all and sundry, starting with its chief custodian, the Roman Pontiff.

Pope after pope throughout the centuries, from the appearance of the Donation, had always unhesitatingly and firmly done so. The precedents, illustrious and well-known, which Alexander could invoke were many. These rested upon the principles enunciated with such clarity by the most significant words of the Donation, which we have quoted elsewhere, to be found in its last clause, namely: “Constantine gives up the remaining sovereignty over Rome… ” and ending: “and of the Western Regions, to Pope Sylvester and his successors.” It was on the strength of such tenets that Pope Hadrian IV in 1155, as we have already seen, gave Ireland to the English king, as “like all Christian islands, it undoubtedly belonged of right to St.Peter and the Roman Church.”

Pope Boniface VIII declared that “temporal authority is subject to the spiritual,” (1)whereas Pope Gregory asserted that “the pope stands to the Emperor as the sun to the moon.” This prompted sundry theological pillars of the Church to state that “the Supreme Pontiff, by divine right, has the fullest powers over the whole world.” (2)

Pope Gregory IX invoked Constantine himself to support such claim. “It is notorious that Constantine thought that he whom God had confided the care of heavenly things, should rule earthly things,” he declared. (3) To clarify this he elucidated the matter. “Constantine, to whom belonged universal monarchy,” he said, “wished that the Vicar of Christ and Prince of Apostles.. should also possess the government of corporeal things in the whole world,” (4) that is, territorial possessions, with all their riches and wealth.

In virtue of this, Pope Hadrian compelled King John to pay a yearly tribute to him – that is, a tax – in token of the subjection of England and Ireland.

The successors of the Blessed Peter eventually claimed as their property all islands and lands as yet undiscovered.

Relying on this, they demanded nothing more nor less than “sovereignty” over the newly discovered lands of the Americas. In modern parlance, they claimed that the Americas, with all they contained, were their absolute property.

Were these decretals put forward and maintained only centuries before Columbus actually set foot on the Americas? Not at all. They remained the full-blooded claims of the popes when America was actually found, so much so that when the reigning pontiff heard about the discoveries, he apportioned the New World, on the basis that he, the pope, had the legal right to do, since it was his property and no one else’s.

This celebrated document was written only one year after the discovery of the new New World; that is, in 1493, by Pope Alexander VI, not so much to re-assert in the plainest possible terms the papal right to its ownership, since that was taken for granted, but to prevent Spain and Portugal from taking over the new lands without these having first been apportioned to them by their owner, or, rather, their landlord, Peter’s successor.

The pope in this case was acting not only as a pope but also as a Spanish pope. He wanted his Spain to have all the Americas. To that effect he decreed that the Vatican’s new property – that is, the Americas

– would be let to Spain. No one else, therefore, could get hold of any portion of it without the permission of the Americas’ legal landlord, the pope. To leave the position in no doubt whatsoever, the Pontiff decreed that all lands and islands, discovered and to be discovered, would be leased to Spain. Not only that; but he told King Ferdinand where the new boundaries would and would be drawn, namely, “towards the West and South, drawing a line from the Pole Antarctic, from the North to the South “. The original papal document, besides its extraordinary intrinsic importance, is a fascinating study which deserves to be better known. The English version is from the original (english ed and published by R. Eden in 1577) to be found in Hakluytus Posthumus, printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, London, in England, and 1625:

Of the pope’s Bull made to Castille, touching the New World. Alexander Bishop, the Servants of God, to our most dear beloved Son in Christ, King Ferdinando, and to our dear beloved Daughter in Christ, Elizabeth, Queen of Castille, Legion, Aragon, Sicily and Granada, most Noble Princes, greeting and Apostolical Benediction..

We are credibly informed that whereas of late you were determined to seek and find certain Islands and firm lands, far remote and unknown (and not heretofore found by any other), to the intent to bring the inhabitants.. to profess Catholic Faith..

This last phrase, “to the intent to bring the inhabitants.. to profess the Catholic Faith,” throws the clearest light upon the basic motivation of the whole enterprise. All other factors, no matter how important, were subsidiary to this.

The pope’s assumption, which he takes for granted and which he regards as the sole primary driving force for the daring sea voyage, must not be regarded as papal self-deception or wishful thinking or a mere ancillary rhetorical formula. It must be taken in its literal sense, since that is precisely how the true inspirer and launcher of Columbus’s adventure, the queen, saw it.

It must be remembered that the queen was not only a very devout person; she was what by modern standards would be called bigoted. She believed implicitly and absolutely in the dogmas and mission of the Roman Catholic Church. She was under the thumb of her confessor, a man responsible, no doubt, for many of her decisions, like the one which dismissed Columbus’s first to petition, or that which unleashed the horrifying hunting down of heretics, with the resulting burning and torturing, by the Holy Inquisition.

To say that her sponsoring of Columbus was motivated only by her zeal to serve the Roman Church would be an inaccurate. The prospect of finding new territories, gold and riches to replenish her empty coffers was no less important. Yet it was in favor of financing his expedition. Here again, therefore, that “intangible” religious factor to which we have already referred played a paramount, even if an imponderable, role in the preliminary exertions which were to lead to the discovery of America.

In any case, supposition or fact, the reality of the matter was that this was taken for granted by the pope himself, who talked and acted on that assumption. Following his preliminary introduction, Alexander continued thus:

You have, not without great Labor, Perils and Charges, appointed our well-beloved Son Christopher Columbus (a man certes well commanded as most worthy and apt for so great a Matter) well furnished with Men and Ships and other Necessaries, to seek (by the Sea, where hitherto no man hath sailed) such firm Lands and Islands far remote, and hitherto unknown, who (by God’s help) making diligent search in the Ocean Sea, have found certain remote Islands and firm Lands, which were not heretofore found by any other: in the which (as is said) many Nations inhabit, living peaceably, and going naked, not accustomed to eat Flesh..

We are further advertised that the fore-named Christopher hath now builded and erected a Fortress, with good Munition., in one of the foresaid principal Islands..

After which the Pope, speaking as a master, lord and owner of what the explorers had already explored and would explore the future, came to the point. Here are his memorable words:

We greatly commending this your godly and laudable purpose.. We of our own motion, and not either at your request or at the instant petition of any other person, but of our own mere liberality and certain science, and by the fullness of Apostolical power, do give grant and assign to you, your heirs and successors, all the firm Lands and Islands found or to be found, discovered or to be discovered, towards the West and South, drawing a Line from the Pole Antarctic (that is) from the North to the South: Containing in this Donation whatsoever firm Lands or Islands are found, or to be found, towards India, or towards India, or towards any other part whatsoever it be, being distant from, or without the foresaid Line, drawn a hundred Leagues towards the West, and South, from any of the Islands which are commonly called DE LOS AZORES AND CAPO VERDE. All the Islands therefore and firm Lands found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered, from the said Line towards the West and South, such as have not actually been heretofore possessed by any other Christian King or Prince, until the day of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ last past, from the which beginneth this present year, being the year of our Lord a thousand four hundred ninety three, whensoever any such shall be found by your Messengers and Captains..

Thereupon His Holiness once more reasserted his authority, indicating the source of such authority, in order to justify the grant he was making to the King of Spain in virtue of and as a derivation of the same.

We (continued the pope) by the Authority of Almighty God, granted unto us in Saint Peter , and by the Vicarship of Jesus Christ which we bear on the Earth, do for ever, by the tenor of these presents, give, grant, assign unto you, your heirs and successors (the Kings of Castile and Legion) all those Lands and Islands, with their Dominions, Territories, Cities, Castles, Towers, Places, and Villages, with all the Rights and Jurisdictions thereunto pertaining; constituting, assigning, and deputing you, your heirs and successors, the Lords thereof, with full and free Power, Authority and Jurisdiction: Decreeing nevertheless by this our Donation, Grant and Assignation, that from no Christian Prince, which actually hath possessed the foresaid Islands and firm Lands, unto the day of the Nativity of our Lord beforesaid, their Right obtained, to be understood hereby to be taken away, or that it ought to be taken away..

Having duly decreed, donated, granted and assigned all the above, Pope Alexander hurled a potential excommunication against anyone who might dare to disregard his decision:

We furthermore straightly inhibit all manner of persons, of what state, degree, order or condition soever they be, although of Imperial and Regal Dignity, under the pain of the Sentence of Excommunication which they shall incur, if they do to the contrary, that they in no case presume, without special License of you, your heirs and successors, to travail for Merchandises or for any other cause, to the said Lands or Islands, the West and South, drawing a Line from the Pole Arctic to and to be found, be situate towards India, or towards any other part.

Alexander then indicated the actual demarcation of the explorations and possessions mentioned earlier in this same document, and said:

Being distant from the Line drawn a hundred Leagues towards the West, from any of the Islands commonly called DE LOS AZORES and CAPO VERDE: Notwithstanding Constitutions, Decrees and Apostolical Ordinances whatsoever they are to the contrary.

In Him from whom Empires, Dominions, and all good things do proceed: Trusting that Almighty God, directing your Enterprising..

Finally, he concluded his deed of gift by threatening anybody who might dare “to infringe” his will:

Let no man therefore whatsoever infringe or dare rashly to contrary this Letter of our Commendation, Exhortation, Request, Donation, Grant, Assignation, Constitution, Deputation, Decree, Commandment, Inhibition, and Determination. And if any shall presume to attempt the same, let him know that he shall thereby incur the Indignation of Almighty God, and His Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul.

Given at Rome at Saint Peter’s, in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 1493. The fourth day of the Nones of May, the first year of our Popedom.

After Catholic Spain there came rival Portugal. As a result, the following year – that is, in 1494 – the Treaty of Tordesillas moved and the papal lines of demarcation to the meridian 370 leagues with of Azores. This caused yet another visible effect of the papal decision upon the New World: the existence of Brazil. For, by pushing the line so far west, a great portion of the soon-to-be-discovered Brazilian bulge was included in the Portuguese dominion.

Meanwhile, sundry daring navigators, spurred by the Colombian epic and the allure of immense riches, began to explore the unknown oceans with renewed vigor. Vasco da Gama took the eastern route, the original inspirational concept of by-passing Constantinople by rounding Africa, and in 1498 he reached India, only six years after Columbus discovered America. In 1500 Alvarez Gabral discovered what later was known as Brazil. The following year, 1501, Corte Real sailed north and landed on Greenland. Joao Martins in 1541 set foot on Alaska.

The devout sons of the Church, Spaniards and Portuguese, having caught the fever for incessant exploration, continued to criss-cross the oceans. They became the original pioneers who landed in

China, the Moluccas, Japan and even Australia while, as early as 1520, Magellan was the first man ever to sail around the globe. When the Isthmus of Panama was crossed and the Pacific Ocean discovered, a priest, a member of the expedition, rushed into the waves holding a crucifix and shouting: “I take possession of this ocean in the name of Jesus Christ!” – and hence in the name of His Vicar on Earth, the Roman Pontiff. The New World had become indeed, by divine and legal right, the absolute property of the popes, from the north to the south, from the eastern to the western coasts. A New World was added to the old one, already under the triple crown.

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