{"id":31003,"date":"2023-04-03T18:03:35","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T22:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/2023\/04\/03\/catholic-church-repudiates-legal-doctrine-used-against-tribal-nations\/"},"modified":"2023-07-31T20:24:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T00:24:10","slug":"catholic-church-repudiates-legal-doctrine-used-against-tribal-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2023\/04\/03\/catholic-church-repudiates-legal-doctrine-used-against-tribal-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Church repudiates legal doctrine used against tribal nations"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Flony1HkrD4\" title=\"My Second Cup of Coffee: Vatican Repudiates the Doctrine of Discovery but seeks to limit the liab\u2026\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Mark Charles: <a href= https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/Flony1HkrD4?feature=share> My Second Cup of Coffee: Vatican Repudiates the Doctrine of Discovery but seeks to limit the liability<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\"> Catholic Church repudiates legal doctrine used against tribal nations<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, April 3, 2023<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\">By <A href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kevin_Abourezk\">Kevin Abourezk<\/A> <A href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kevin_Abourezk\"><I aria-hidden=true class=\"fab fa-twitter\"><\/I><\/A><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source\">Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe Vatican released a statement last week saying the Catholic Church has repudiated a religious doctrine that was used to justify the theft of lands from indigenous tribes in North America.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe joint statement from the church\u2019s Dicastery for Culture and the Dicastery for Integral Human Development stated that both the <a href=https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Discovery_doctrine>Doctrine of Discovery<\/a> and the papal decrees, or bulls, that granted sovereign rights to colonizing nations are \u201cnot part of the teaching of the Catholic Church.\u201d\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cIn no uncertain terms, the Church\u2019s magisterium upholds the respect due to every human being,\u201d the <a href=https:\/\/press.vatican.va\/content\/salastampa\/en\/bollettino\/pubblico\/2023\/03\/30\/230330b.html>March 30 statement<\/a> reads. \u201cThe 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 \u2018doctrine of discovery.\u2019\u201d\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\" content_cards_card content_cards_domain_twitter-com\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content_cards_image\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_image_link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VaticanNews\/status\/1641388205365764099\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/card_img\/2102140849861935104\/11NNISxL?format=webp&#038;name=medium\" alt=\"Vatican News (@VaticanNews) on X\">\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_title\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_title_link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VaticanNews\/status\/1641388205365764099\">\n\t\t\tVatican News (@VaticanNews) on X\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_description\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_description_link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VaticanNews\/status\/1641388205365764099\">\n\t\t\t<p>Two Vatican Dicasteries issue a joint statement formally repudiating &#8220;those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political \u2018doctrine of discovery\u2019.&#8221; https:\/\/t.co\/P9Bj2Aa7rH<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_site_name\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/favicon.ico\" alt=\"X (formerly Twitter)\" class=\"content_cards_favicon\"\/>\t\tX (formerly Twitter)\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe statement explained the discovery doctrine can be found in several papal documents, including the Bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493). Nineteenth Century courts in several countries later cited the discovery doctrine as justification for allowing settlers to relieve indigenous peoples of their lands, either by purchase or conquest.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nThe statement went on to claim that the papal bulls, \u201cwritten in a specific historical period and linked to political questions,\u201d were never considered expressions of Catholic faith.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cAt the same time, the Church acknowledges that these papal bulls did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples,\u201d the statement reads.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nThe church also admitted that the papal bulls were \u201cmanipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powers in order to justify immoral acts against indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities.\u201d\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\" content_cards_card content_cards_domain_twitter-com\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content_cards_image\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_image_link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NCAI1944\/status\/1641578053473009665\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/FsgOib7XsAIzx4h?format=webp&#038;name=large\" alt=\"National Congress of American Indians (@NCAI1944) on X\">\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_title\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_title_link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NCAI1944\/status\/1641578053473009665\">\n\t\t\tNational Congress of American Indians (@NCAI1944) on X\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_description\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_description_link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NCAI1944\/status\/1641578053473009665\">\n\t\t\t<p>Today, the Vatican announced the repudiation of its centuries-old Doctrine of Discovery, which was used to justify colonization and land theft across the globe. NCAI responded to the announcement. Read full statement: https:\/\/t.co\/CxI1Vrsgpx<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_site_name\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/favicon.ico\" alt=\"X (formerly Twitter)\" class=\"content_cards_favicon\"\/>\t\tX (formerly Twitter)\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe <a href=https:\/\/www.ncai.org\/>National Congress of Americans<\/a> praised Pope Francis and the Catholic Church for its repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is no secret that many governments \u2013 including the United States \u2013 have relied on this doctrine to justify the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and the taking of our lands,\u201d <a href=https:\/\/www.ncai.org\/news\/articles\/2023\/03\/30\/ncai-statement-on-vatican-s-repudiation-of-doctrine-of-discovery>NCAI said<\/a> in a statement. \u201cIt is our sincere hope that today\u2019s announcement is more than mere words, but rather is the beginning of a full acknowledgement of the history of oppression and a full accounting of the legacies of colonialism \u2014 not just by the Roman Catholic Church, but by all the world governments that have used racism, prejudice and religious authority to not only justify past inequalities, but to allow, fuel, and perpetuate the institutionalization of those inequalities that continue to this very day.\u201d\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nNot everyone expressed support for the Vatican\u2019s statement.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nNavajo author and former presidential candidate Mark Charles chastised the Vatican Friday for its statement, saying the church is attempting to rewrite history in its <a href=https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/en\/vatican-city\/news\/2023-03\/vatican-formally-repudiates-doctrine-of-discovery.html>repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nCharles, author of \u201c<a href=https:\/\/amzn.to\/40BV3AH>Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery<\/a>,\u201d told Indianz.Com that he was surprised by the Vatican\u2019s statement and was initially glad to learn the church was taking steps to repudiate the discovery doctrine.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/markcharles\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1350\" data-attachment-id=\"31262\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2023\/04\/03\/catholic-church-repudiates-legal-doctrine-used-against-tribal-nations\/markcharles\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/31\/markcharles.jpeg\" data-orig-size=\"1800,1350\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"Mark Charles\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Mark Charles&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Mark Charles, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, addresses the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, on August 20, 2019. At the time, Charles was running for president of the United States as an independent candidate. Photo by  Jerry Mennenga  \/ Zuma Press, &amp;copy; Jerry L. Mennenga \/ Courtesy Ho-Chunk Inc&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/31\/markcharles-1024x768.jpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/31\/markcharles.jpeg\" alt=\"Mark Charles\"  class=\"size-full wp-image-31262\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Mark Charles, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, addresses the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, on August 20, 2019. At the time, Charles was running for president of the United States as an independent candidate. Photo by  Jerry Mennenga  \/ Zuma Press, &copy; Jerry L. Mennenga \/ Courtesy Ho-Chunk Inc<\/figcaption>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nBut after he read the actual statement, he became disappointed in the church, which he said is attempting to \u201cgloss over\u201d its historically inhumane treatment of Native peoples while washing its hands of some inconvenient history.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nHe said the church\u2019s statement begins by praising its own past leaders who did admirable work, and even died, in support of Native people. Charles said it is likely the very church officials the Vatican is attempting to praise were actually killed or penalized by the church itself for violating church policy toward Native people.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cThen it states that the Doctrine of Discovery was never part of the Catholic Church\u2019s teachings, and that is where it begins to fall apart,\u201d Charles said.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nHe said the church\u2019s statement claims that the Catholic Church didn\u2019t really understand the impact of the papal bulls or how political leaders would use them to justify their subjugation of indigenous people. Charles said the 1452 papal bull (known as the Bulls Dum Diversas) was written specifically to justify the enslavement of indigenous people in the New World by Columbus.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cTo talk like we didn\u2019t know there was this Doctrine of Discovery, that\u2019s a complete rewriting of history,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was not a passive injustice, a passive sin for the Catholic Church. They were working with colonial powers to justify these things.\u201d\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"mt-1 mb-1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8411603009680747\" data-ad-slot=\"6394965691\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/div><p><\/p>\r\nHe said the statement also glosses over 500 years of abuse and neglect of Native peoples by the Catholic Church, simply referring to these injustices as the \u201cterrible effects of the assimilation policies\u201d without referencing any specific event or action, such as the failed boarding school experiment.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s very offensive to be asking for pardon when they can\u2019t even acknowledge what they did and name the effect it had on indigenous people,\u201d Charles said.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nHe said he was very interested to see the Catholic Church repudiate not just the religious aspects of the Doctrine of Discovery but also the legal aspects of it, something he said the statement appeared to do. He said a lot of well-meaning organizations have repudiated the religious aspects of the discovery doctrine but rarely have any repudiated the legal aspects of it.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nHe said the Doctrine of Discovery was used undergird the very foundations of America. The Declaration of Independence refers to Natives as \u201cmerciless Indian savages,\u201d despite its contention that \u201call men are created equal.\u201d The Founding Fathers are able to make this distinction because of the Doctrine of Discovery, which gave them a narrow view of who could be considered men, according to Charles in \u201cUnsettling Truths.\u201d\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nIn the 1823 <a href=https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johnson_v._M%27Intosh><EM>Johnson v. M\u2019Intosh<\/em> decision<\/a>, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that when European Christian nations discovered new lands, they gained sovereignty and property rights over those of non-European, non-Christian people, including the Native people who had inhabited those lands. The decision, which referenced the Doctrine of Discovery, serves as a cornerstone of federal Indian law.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cNot only did the 1823 Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John Marshall, and subsequent Supreme Court judicial interpretations, perpetuate the dehumanizing worldview of the Doctrine of Discovery, but they transformed the discovery doctrine into a modern-day legal instrument that has become the bedrock of the legal principle for land titles in the United States,\u201d Charles asserts in \u201cUnsettling Truths.\u201d\r\n\r\n<p><\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/news\/2022\/08\/08\/doug-george-kanentiio-residential-school-survivors-reject-pope-francis-apology\/popefrancis-6\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-27063\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" data-attachment-id=\"27063\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/08\/08\/doug-george-kanentiio-residential-school-survivors-reject-pope-francis-apology\/popefrancis-6\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/08\/PopeFrancis.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1280,853\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"Pope Francis\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Pope Francis&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Pope Francis in Iqaluit, Nunavat, on July 29, 2022. Photo: Vatican News&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/08\/PopeFrancis-1024x682.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/08\/PopeFrancis.jpg\" alt=\"Pope Francis\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27063\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Pope Francis in Iqaluit, Nunavut, on July 29, 2022. Photo: Vatican News<\/figcaption>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nThe Supreme Court referenced the <EM>M\u2019Intosh decision<\/em> in 1954, 1985 and most <a href=https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/news\/2005\/007295.asp>recently in 2005<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cThe implicit bias of white supremacy is rooted in the Doctrine of Discovery, articulated in the Declaration of Independence, established as a foundational principle in the US Constitution, and was repeatedly codified into US case law by the courts,\u201d Charles writes.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\nHe said Friday that in repudiating the legal aspects of the Doctrine of Discovery the Catholic Church \u2013 one of the largest landholders in the world \u2013 seemed to be surrendering its right to stolen indigenous lands.\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cI would love to see a Native nation sue the Catholic Church for the return of the lands that the Catholic Church owns,\u201d he said.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Catholic Church formally repudiated a religious doctrine that was used to justify the theft of lands from indigenous peoples  in North America.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,13,1,14,23],"tags":[111,269,476,3882,7,2146,47,61,278,220,84],"class_list":["post-31003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-trust","category-law","category-national","category-politics","category-world","tag-books","tag-colonization","tag-land-claims","tag-mark-charles","tag-ncai","tag-pope-francis","tag-race","tag-racism","tag-religion","tag-sovereignty","tag-supreme-court","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-843","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/08\/PopeFrancis.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}