Papal Bulls that formed the Manifest Destiny doctrines.
Papal Bulls that formed the doctrines of Manifest Destiny:
1095ad - Terra Nullius (empty land) edict issued by Pope Urban II - right to discovery and conquest; to claim land in non-Christian areas.
1452ad - Dum Diversas issued by Pope Nicholas V - authorized King Alfonso V of Portugal to reduce any "Saracens (Muslims) and pagans and any non-believers" to perpetual slavery, thereby ushering in the West African slave trade, as they are sub-human.
1455ad - Romanus Pontifex also issued by Pope Nicholas V - sanctioned the seizure of non-Christian lands, and encouraged the enslavement of non-Christian people in Africa and the Americas. Specifically, it gave the green light to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed," all for profit, and in the name of Jesus Christ. It was God-given rights to Christians only.
1493ad - Inter Cetera signed by Pope Alexander VI - states, "...we (the Papacy) command you (Spain) ... to instruct the foresaid inhabitants and residents and dwellers therein in the Catholic faith, and train them in good morals." This papal law sanctioned and paved the way for European colonization and Catholic missions in the New World. It was a justification to wage war on all non-Christians. This jure belli, to be a just war, sanctioned by God to conquer, subjugate, profit from domination over pagans, sanctifying, enslavement and dispossession of property.
These edicts opened the floodgates for everything that followed; the raping, pillaging, kidnapping, genocide and enslavement of millions. They established the groundwork for global slave trade of the 15th and 16th centuries, and the Age of Imperialism. Speaking of organized crime, at this time I'm reminded of a famous line from the movie The Godfather, referring to the drug trade: "In my city, we keep the traffic in the Dark People, the Coloreds - they're animals anyway, so let them lose their souls." --- BC Columnist David A. Love.
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