Holy Racists?

 

Readers may be interested to know how the popes regarded non-European peoples in their writings. Sadly, official church documents like CHURCH & RACISM – Towards a more fraternal society (Catholic Truth Society, London 1989) prefer not to tell the whole truth.

Terms like ‘barbarous’, ‘savage’, ‘superstitious’ were routinely used to describe non-Europeans. Way back in 1493, the year after Columbus set his eyes on the Native Americans, Pope Alexander VI issued a bull (edict) instructing Spain and Portugal that “barbarous nations be invaded and brought to the faith”.

In 1840, Pope Gregory XVI praised the missionaries in America and the East who go out in search of those “sitting in darkness” and entering “the woods and caves of savages”.

 

Leo XIII (1878-1903) was even more explicit. To him Europe belongs to the “civilised nations” (never mind the barbarities of the colonizers) and he declares himself to be “indeed the Vicar of Christ”. He is plainly ignorant about indigenous cultures and practices but this does not stop this man of God from dismissing them as ‘barbarous people’ (On Socialism 1878). Leo’s successor, Pius X, was to use the word ‘barbarous’ again in 1912.

But let’s return to Leo. The encyclicals referred to below are abbreviated SA, CA and NC.

 

Africans are described by Leo as “that wretched part of the human race”. The teachings of Christ will “release it from the superstition and misery in which it has been mired for so long.” (SA 1890, para 3).

 

Native Americans to Leo were barely human before the Europeans came. It was the Europeans who raised them “from a state of blindness to the common level of the human race, from savagery to gentleness and humanity” (C4 1892). These Native Americans are “a mighty multitude cloaked in miserable darkness, given over to evil rites and the superstitious worship of vain gods. (They live) in a barbarous state and with savage manners; (and they) lack the knowledge of the one true God.” (CA 1892).

 

Hindus attract Leo’s attention in NC 1893: here he lauds Francis Xavier: “he converted hundreds of thousands of Hindus from the myths and vile superstitions of the Brahmans to the true religion...”

 

His vocabulary seems to be taken straight from the race theorists of the time. To Leo, the people living outside Europe are one undifferentiated mass, backward and helpless, awaiting deliverance by the Europeans. Can this be the ‘Vicar of Christ’ and ‘Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church’ speaking – and passing summary judgment on distant peoples he doesn’t know? The arrogance and lack of charity are breath-taking. Jesus had clearly commanded: “Stop judging by mere appearances...”(John 7:24)

 

Indeed, can Leo really sit in judgment - given the shabby record of the Church Inquisition and of many unworthy holders of the papal office (among them killers, usurers, fornicators, heretics)? It also needs to be stated that superstitions are not the monopoly of non-Europeans – superstitious practices and witchcraft have been rampant in Europe and high church clerics were not exempt. Pope Urban VIII (1623-44), for example, believed in magic and horoscopes. He ordered astrologers to cast the horoscopes of all the cardinals in Rome in order to discover when they would die. In 1628, he was troubled by the possible evil influence of an imminent lunar eclipse and called upon Campanella (an ex-heretic) to perform a magical ritual for protection. The ritual worked and Urban was saved!

 

ON COLUMBUS

Pope Leo also wrote a special encyclical in 1892 to commemorate Columbus ‘discovery’ of America. Writing to the American bishops (C4 1892), the Pope described the exploit of Columbus as

“this immortal achievement…  the highest and grandest ever accomplished by man…”

“Through the constant interchange of business and ocean trade, an incredible addition was made to our knowledge of nature while the prestige of the European name was marvellously increased… Those countries hitherto uncultivated and inaccessible have made such rapid strides in civilisation, wealth and fame…”

 

He continues “The whole world is eager to celebrate the memory of the event and glorify its author.”

Surely he means the European world. What of the Natives? Were they ready to celebrate or to mourn?

The church has since learnt to be a bit humble and in contrast, the US Council of Churches issued a statement in 1992 (the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ trip) condemning the “discovery” as “ invasion and colonization with legalized occupation, genocide, economic exploitation, institutional racism and moral decadence.”

It called for “a year of repentance and reflection rather than celebration.”

 

NOTE:

1) Readers may be shocked to hear that Alexander VI referred to above was one of the most dissolute popes of the church – he kept mistresses, had 10 known illegitimate children, sought bribes to appoint cardinals, then poisoned them and was himself poisoned. To read more, click here

 

2) For a more detailed critique of Leo’s encyclicals, click here.