'''Romanus Pontifex'''^[1] is a papal bull written January 8 1455 by Pope Nicholas V to King Afonso V of Portugal. As a follow-up to the ''Dum Diversas'', it extended to the Catholic nations of Europe dominion over discovered lands during the Age of Discovery. Along with sanctifying the seizure of non-Christian lands, it encouraged the enslavement of native, non-Christian peoples in Africa and the New World.
Aside from long passages of praise for the success of earlier expeditions of conquest into Africa and a call to limit trading on terms of equality with non-Christians, the weight of the Bull's precedents exist in the passages:
These passages specifically granted to nations and explorers cause to seek out lands unknown to Christians. In 1493 Pope Alexander VI issued ''Inter caetera'' stating one Christian nation did not have the right to establish dominion over lands previously dominated by another Christian nation, thus establishing the Law of Nations. Together, the ''Dum Diversas'', the ''Romanus Pontifex'' and the ''Inter Caetera'' came to serve as the justification for the Doctrine of discovery, the global slave trade of the 15th and 16th centuries, and the Age of Imperialism.
The rights bestowed by ''Romanus Pontifex'' have never fallen from use, serving as the basis for legal arguments over the centuries. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1823 case ''Johnson v. M'Intosh ''that as a result of European discovery and assumption of ultimate dominion, Native Americans had only a right to occupancy of native lands, not the right of title. This decision was upheld in the 1831 case ''Cherokee Nation v. Georgia'', giving Georgia authority to extend state laws over Cherokees within the state, and famously describing Native American tribes as "domestic dependent nations." This decision was modified in ''Worcester v. Georgia'', which stated that the U.S. federal government, and not individual states, had authority in Indian affairs, but it maintained the loss of right to title upon discovery by Europeans.
In recent years, Native American groups including the Taíno and Onondaga have called on the Vatican to revoke the bulls of 1452, 1453, and 1493.

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References

1. See full text pp.13-20 (Latin) and pp.20-26 (English) in ''European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies to 1648'', Washington, D.C., Frances Gardiner Davenport, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1917-37 - Google Books. Reprint edition, 4 vols., (October 2004), Lawbook Exchange, ISBN 1-58477-422-3

Bibliography

★ Panzer, Joel S. ''The Popes and Slavery'', New York : Alba House, 1996. ISBN 0-8189-0764-9 Review

External links

★ Slavery and Christianity

★ Ethical Aspect of Slavery

★ The Popes and Slavery: Setting the Record Straight by Fr. Joel S. Panzer

★ Sicut Dudum Encyclical letter of Pope Eugene IV: ''Against the Enslaving of Black Natives from the Canary Islands'', January 13, 1435. Sicut Dudum is one of two bulls issued by Pope Eugene (Eugenius) regarding slaves in the Canary Islands. Both are printed in appendix II, pp. 207-209 of ''Carácter de la Conquista y Colonizácion de las Islas Canarias: Discursos leidos ante la Real Academia de la Historia'', (1901) by Don Rafael Torres Campos. See notes, p. 17 in Davenport's ''European Treaties''... above.

★ Romanus Pontifex Encyclical of Pope Nicholas V, January 8, 1455

★ Sublimus Dei Encyclical of Pope Paul III: ''On the enslavement and evangelization of Indians'', May 29, 1537

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