SASKATOON — On Thursday, the Vatican issued a statement disavowing the Doctrine of Discovery. This document gave Christian colonizers the right to claim Indigenous peoples’ land during the age of exploration more than five centuries ago.
According to Vatican News, the joint statement issued by the Dicastery for Culture and the Dicastery for Integral Human Development said the Doctrine of Discovery was never Catholic and the Church supports and defends Indigenous peoples’ rights.
“Those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery,’” said in the joint statement as both departments of the Roman Curia repudiated the controversial document.
The Vatican added that the Doctrine of Discovery and subsequent Papal Bulls issued after that justified the actions of taking Indigenous lands away from the original and rightful owners was never Catholic.
The statement further stated that the document and the Papal Bulls granting the rights for colonizers to claim sovereign lands was and have never been part of the Catholic Church’s teachings and Magisterium.
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations welcomed the Vatican’s decision on the Doctrine of Discovery, a document they have rejected for decades, stating that it is a “promising step forward for First Nations people.”
The FSIN, in a statement, said it would not pave the way for Canada to remove the “cede and surrender” notion and stop relying on it as a justification for taking land from First Nations around the world.
“This lie must stop today. These racist legal doctrines have allowed Canada to claim sovereignty over our peoples and our lands unilaterally and used it as an excuse to commit genocide,” said FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron.
“And today, the Vatican finally said what our peoples have always known. FSIN has said the Doctrine of Discovery is a colonialist and racist legal doctrine. Upon European arrival, it devastated our people and still devastates our Nations today.”
FSIN Chiefs, both the Executive and leaders of the 74 First Nations in the province, declared for decades that the Doctrine of Discovery is a papal statement and not a law justifying the genocide, robbery of Indigenous lands and colonization of Indigenous peoples.
“Our people were already living here on Turtle Island in distinct societies. We were not ‘discovered.’ The papal bull is a vile decree that led to the slaughter and genocide of Indigenous peoples worldwide,” said Cameron.
“These racist and illegal doctrines have allowed Canada to claim sovereignty over our peoples and our lands unilaterally and used it as an excuse to commit crimes against our people. The honour and intent of the Treaty must be upheld.”
He added that Treaties should be the bases of laws surrounding the waters, lands and resources of Indigenous peoples and not the documents the Vatican repudiated nor the misguided interpretations issued by the Crown.
“The lands, waters, resources and animals never belonged to any government. These are the Creator's gifts to our First Nations, our Inherent and Treaty rights holders. The lands, water and resources never belonged to the federal and provincial governments,” said Cameron.\
“The Crown has used papal bulls and the Doctrine of Discovery as legal justification to support their claim. With the Vatican denouncing the doctrine, there is no legal justification to bar us from our ancestral lands.”
The English and French colonized what would later be known as Canada, using the Doctrine of Discovery to claim Indigenous lands from the original settlers of Turtle Island (what First Nations refer to as the North American continent).
The colonizers based the property laws on the document as they also forced their cultural and religious beliefs on Indigenous peoples and other parts of the world, which caused the genocide of their culture and people.
“We have always been here and today, we are still here. We won’t stop defending our rights and existence as the first peoples of these lands. Colonization’s tool, the Doctrine of Discovery, was not legitimate but was relied on to take our lands and our lives,” said Cameron.
Rescinding the document
The Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations, in a separate statement, also welcomed the Vatican’s move as they took time to fully understand the effect of the decision to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, a 500-year-old document issued by popes Nicholas V (1455) and Alexander VI (1493) declaring “Turtle Island” as terra nullius or nobody’s land.
They said they requested Pope Francis to rescind the document during his weeklong “Penitential Pilgrimage” in Canada, where he met leaders of various Indigenous groups to personally ask for forgiveness for the atrocities committed by Catholic clergy and other members of the church.
“When we hosted Pope Francis on our traditional Territory in July, rescinding the Doctrine of Discovery was our Survivors’ most prominent request. Hearing the Pope’s apology on our lands was an important first step towards our Peoples’ road to healing and the announcement today is another significant step on our journey to Reconciliation,” they said in the statement.
“The doctrine claims that Turtle Island is terra nullius – “nobody’s land.” Despite the claims of the Church, Indigenous Peoples have always known these lands have belonged to us since time immemorial… Without this document, Canada has no historical mandate in their control of Indigenous Peoples and territories.”
The Vatican, acting as the ‘moral guide’ of European powers, enabled leaders that honour the papacy in committing genocide and dispossessing Indigenous peoples of their lands during the so-called age of discovery under the guidance of the Doctrine of Discovery, which was the same document that created Canada and the colonial laws imposed on the First Nations.
Pope’s meeting with Indigenous peoples
The Vatican said the dialogue and meetings by Pope Francis with various Indigenous communities in Canada gave leaders of the Catholic church a clearer picture of the past and present sufferings of First Nations during colonization and the dispossessing of their lands and the forcing them to assimilate to Western culture that aimed to eliminate their traditions.
According to Catholic News Service, the Vatican statement further stated that the papal texts that supported Christian colonizers to claim non-Christian Indigenous peoples “have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith. At the same time, the church acknowledged that these papal bulls did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples.”
Cardinal Michael Czerny of Canada, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said the Vatican’s statement repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery is their response to the continuous requests made by Indigenous peoples in Canada and the US to rescind the said document.
“It acknowledges that dealing with such a painful heritage is an ongoing process. It acknowledges still more important that the real issue is not history but contemporary reality. [It is a] call to discover, identify, analyze and try to overcome what we can only call the enduring effects of colonialism today,” said Czerny.
In a separate statement, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said they are grateful the joint statement addressed the concept of the Doctrine of Discovery and particular Papal Bulls issued in the 15th century that affirmed the Latin term terra nullius.
“Contrary to this claim, numerous and repeated statements by the church and popes through the centuries have upheld the rights and freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, for example, the 1537 Bull Sublimis Deus (Sublime God, promulgated by Pope Paul III),” said CCCB.
“Indeed, popes in recent times have also sought forgiveness on numerous occasions for evil acts committed against Indigenous peoples by Christians. Having heard a strong desire from Indigenous peoples for the church to address the Doctrine of Discovery, today’s joint statement from the Dicasteries further repudiates any concepts that fail to recognize [their] inherent rights.”
