Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery

Common card · No. 428443

During the Age of Discovery, the Catholic Church inaugurated a major effort to spread Christianity (Catholicism) in the New World, Asia, and Africa, and to convert the Indigenous peoples of the Americas and other indigenous peoples. The evangelical effort was a major part of, and a justification for, the military conquests of European powers such as Portugal, Spain, and France. Christian missions to the indigenous peoples ran hand-in-hand with the colonial efforts of Catholic nations. In the Americas and other colonies in Asia, and Africa, most missions were run by religious orders such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Jesuits. In Mexico, the early systematic evangelization by mendicants came to be known as the "Spiritual Conquest of Mexico". Antonio de Montesinos, a Dominican friar on the island of Hispaniola, was the first member of the clergy to publicly denounce all forms of enslavement and oppression of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Theologians such as Francisco...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Tomás Castelazo, CC BY-SA 2.5