The Vatican on Thursday responded to Indigenous demands and formally repudiated the 'Doctrine of Discovery,' the theories backed by 15th-century 'papal bulls' that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property law today.
Two Indigenous women unfurled a banner at the altar of the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre on July 29 that read: "Rescind the Doctrine" in bright red and black letters. The protesters were escorted away and the Mass proceeded without incident, though the women later marched the banner out of the basilica and draped it on the railing.
The Vatican offered no evidence that the three 15th-century papal bulls had themselves been formally abrogated, rescinded or rejected, as Vatican officials have often said. But it cited a subsequent bull, Sublimis Deus in 1537, that reaffirmed that Indigenous peoples shouldn't be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, and were not to be enslaved.
Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendonca, prefect of the Vatican's culture office, said the statement was a reflection of the Vatican's dialogue with Indigenous peoples.
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