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(commencing in Africa). He created a ‘lawful’ framework for the international trade of slaves establishing a formal license-system giving authority to both territories and numbers of slaves abducted, with a schedule of fees paid to the Roman Catholic Church.
(1442) Pope Felix V issued the Papal Bull Illius Qui endorsing Portugal to engage in slave trade for non-Christians in the Canary Islands, in exchange for fees paid to the Vatican (per slave successfully delivered alive). Slave traders did not have to pay royalty fees to the Roman Catholic Church for ‘damaged cargo’ when slaves died en route to their destination.
Sealing a ‘Doctrine of Discovery’
(1452 CE) Pope Nicholas V issued on 18th of June, to King Alfonso V of Portugal, the Papal Bull Dum Diversas, authorizing the King to diminish Muslims and pagans into perpetual slavery, setting into motion the Portuguese slave trade from West Africa.
(1454 CE) Then, Pope Nicholas V also issued to King Alfonso V, the crucial Papal Bull Romanus
Pontifex (mentioned earlier in this article). As a follow-up to Dum Diversas, this is an example of the Papacy’s claim to supreme lordship of the whole world, as it declared war against all non- Christians everywhere, explicitly sanctioning and promoting the conquest, colonization, and exploitation of non-Christian nations and their territories during an Age of Discovery.
In numerous creeds articulated during and after the Crusades, non-Christians were considered enemies of the Catholic faith and therefore, less than human. Accordingly in this decree, Pope Nicholas V directed King Alfonso to “...capture, vanquish, and subdue
the Saracens, pagans, and other enemies of Christ,” to “put them into perpetual slavery,” and “to take all their possessions and property.”
This reveals the philosophical root of a ‘Doctrine
of Discovery’ especially concerning Christopher Columbus’ ‘finding’ America almost forty years later in 1492. The explorer felt completely justified and authorized to ‘take possession of the land’ based on this prior, deceptive religious proclamation to conquer and ‘own’ what was ‘discovered’ in the name of Christendom.
I.T.N.J