Archbishop Miller, Canadian bishops welcome statement on ‘doctrine of discovery’

Canada’s bishops expressed gratitude Thursday for the Vatican’s repudiation of the “doctrine of discovery,” saying the papal bulls on which it was based were never Church teaching and “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops was responding to a joint statement from the Holy See’s Dicastery for Culture and Education and Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development addressing the concept of the “doctrine of discovery” and whether 15th-century papal bulls served as a basis for so-called “doctrine.”

Meanwhile, Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller said he was “heartened” that the Vatican and Canadian bishop had “unambiguously repudiated the so-called “doctrine of discovery.”

The concept of the doctrine has “long hampered the path to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in our land and elsewhere,” Archbishop Miller said. “It is my hope that this needed clarification – and its accompanying reaffirmation of the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples – will lead to further dialogue regarding their identity, language and culture.”

The bishops said numerous 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. “Indeed, Popes in recent times have also sought forgiveness on numerous occasions for evil acts committed against Indigenous peoples by Christians,” the bishops said.

“Having heard a strong desire from Indigenous peoples for the Church to address the ‘Doctrine of Discovery,’ today’s joint statement from the two dicasteries further repudiates any concepts that fail to recognize the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples.” 

The joint statement affirms “in no uncertain terms” the Church’s magisterial teaching on the respect due to every human being, the bishops said. “The Catholic Church therefore repudiates 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.’” 

The statement further emphasizes that the doctrine of discovery is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church “and that the papal documents under scrutiny by some scholars – particularly the Bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493) – have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.”

The bulls “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples” but were “manipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powers” resulting in Indigenous suffering “the terrible effects of the assimilation policies of colonizing nations.” 

The bishops noted the Vatican statement’s support for the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, “the implementation of which would help to improve the living conditions of Indigenous Peoples, to protect their rights, as well as to support their self-development in continuity with their identity, language, history, and culture.”

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