Recent articles by Richard Becker

Vatican renounces colonial era ‘Doctrine of Discovery’. Will US Supreme Court do likewise?

Vatican renounces colonial era ‘Doctrine of Discovery’. Will US Supreme Court do likewise?

More than five centuries after it was formulated in a series of papal decrees, the Vatican issued a formal announcement on March 30 repudiating the Euro-supremacist “Doctrine of Discovery.” In essence, the “doctrine” said that all lands not occupied by “Christians” passed into the hands of the European conquerors as soon as they were “discovered,” and their inhabitants enslaved.