Sublimis Deus

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Sublimis Deus (named after the Latin initial words: The exalted God) is a papal bull , which was given by Pope Paul III. proclaimed on June 2, 1537 . It forbade the enslavement of the Native American Indians and all other people.

content

The Pope repeated his position that he had represented a month earlier in the Breve Veritas ipsa of May 2, 1537 to Cardinal Juan de Tavera , the Archbishop of Toledo . Paul III declared that the Indians were " rational beings with a soul " and rejected any claim to the contrary as devilish . He condemned their humiliation to slaves as null and void. This applies to all peoples, including those who have not yet been discovered. He granted them the right to freedom and property and concluded with an exclamation for their Christianization . The missionaries should "invite the Christian faith through preaching and good example". Because the Indians have the right to be baptized because of their freedom before God and the law .

effect

The bull had a strong influence on the dispute in Valladolid , it is a "Magna Charta of international law" (Hans-Jürgen Prien). The principles expressed in it eventually became the official position of Charles V , Emperor and King of Spain; however, it was often ignored by the settlers and conquistadors . Although the bull Sublimis Deus was repeatedly disregarded, it remained the anchor on which the missionaries could anchor their fight to defend the human rights of the Indians.

background

With the European discovery of America , speculation arose as to whether the indigenous peoples of these countries were "real people" or not. This question was crucial to justify the mistreatment of the locals by the conquerors. A strong faction believed that these peoples were "not human". They speculated that God had withheld Christianity and the gospel from them for so long because they were not human beings with souls and were therefore incapable of salvation . According to the New Testament , the gospel was preached to "all peoples" as early as the times of the apostles ( Col 1,23  EU and Rom 16,25-26  EU ), so that the newly discovered peoples who did not know the gospel, obviously not as could be regarded as belonging to humanity. The popular belief of the time also divided mankind into three races (Europeans, Asians, and Africans), which corresponded to the descendants of Noah's sons , and the American population did not fit this pattern. Voices that nonetheless wanted to grant human status to the indigenous people of America and thus plead for (in principle peaceful) missionary work and "normal" treatment by the Europeans met with strong resistance. This was based not least on strong economic interests: If the Indians were recognized as having their human status, they would at the same time lose any right to own land, could be used to work like animals, etc .; this was crucial to the occupation and economy of Europeans in the New World. In this respect, the bull of 1537 was a far-reaching requirement, not only from an ethical point of view.

bibliography

Edition

  • Josef Metzler (ed.): America Pontificia primi saeculi evangelizationis (1493–1592). Documenta pontificia ex registris et minutis praesertim in Archivo Secreto Vaticano existentibus . Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 1991. Vol. I: 1493-1562. ISBN 88-209-1699-1 . Veritas ipsa (Sublimis deus; Excelsus deus) No. 84, pp. 364-366.
  • Francisco Javier Hernáez (ed.): Colección de Bulas, Breves y otros documentos relativos a la Iglesia de América y Filipinas . Vol. I, Brussels 1879, pp. 102-103.

translation

  • Jakob Baumgartner: Mission and Liturgy in Mexico . Vol. 1: The Divine Service in the Young Church of New Spain . Immensee 1971, pp. 122-123; printed in: Michael Sievernich u. a. (Ed.): Conquista and Evangelism - 500 years of the Order in Latin America . Mainz 1992, ISBN 3-7867-1649-8 , pp. 475-476.

literature

  • Silvio Arturo Zavala: Repaso histórico de la bula Sublimis Deus de Paulo III, en defensa de los indios . Mexico City 1991, ISBN 968-859-050-9 .
  • Abelardo Lobato Casado: El obispo Garcés y la bula "Sublimis Deus" . In: Fundación "Instituto Bartolomé de Las Casas" (ed.): Los Dominicos en el Nuevo Mundo . Madrid 1988, ISBN 84-86379-04-0 , pp. 739-795.
  • Alberto de la Hera: Iglesia y Corona en la América Española . MAPFRE, Madrid 1992, ISBN 84-7100-526-3 .
  • José Ignacio Saranyana (Ed.): Teología en América Latina . Vol. 1: Desde los orígenes a la Guerra de Sucesión (1493-1715) . Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-89354-113-6 , pp. 63-65.

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ wrongly also Sublimus Deus or Sublimus Dei
  2. ↑ Occasionally the erroneous date of June 9, 1537 can be found, for example in Jakob Baumgartner: Mission und Liturgie in Mexico . Vol. 1: The Divine Service in the Young Church of New Spain . Immensee 1971, pp. 122–123, and - adopted from there - in Michael Sievernich u. a. (Ed.): Conquista and Evangelism - 500 years of the Order in Latin America . Mainz 1992, pp. 475-476. The incorrect dating refers to a mistranslation of “quarto nonas iunii” as “ninth June”.
  3. ↑ Quoted from: Horst founder: Conquista and Mission . In: Horst founder: Christian message of salvation and worldly power. Studies on the relationship between mission and colonialism . Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7366-8 , pp. 23–46, quotation p. 42.
  4. ^ Pontificia Comisión «Iustitia et Pax»: La iglesia ante el racismos

See also

Web links