Andrea Nicole Carandang resides on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunne, Anishinabewaki, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Mississauga and Wendake-Niowentsio. She is an immigrant from the Philippines and moved to Canada with her family at the age of 10. In 2018, she graduated from the University of Toronto with her Honours Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education and received her certification from the Ontario College of Teachers the same year. She graduated with her Master of Divinity from Regis College in 2021.
On March 30, 2023, the Vatican Dicasteries for Culture and Education and for Promoting Integral Human Development issued a joint statement on the Doctrine of Discovery. In their statement, the Dicasteries argue that the Doctrine of Discovery is not part of Catholic teaching, and that certain documents issued by Popes were used to justify immoral and inhuman acts against Indigenous peoples. They write:
“In no uncertain terms, the Church’s magisterium upholds the respect due to every human being. 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 Dicasteries go on to recognize that it is just for the Church to recognize the errors it has committed, to acknowledge the effects of the policies that came from these papal documents, and to seek pardon. They conclude their statement by affirming the Church’s support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
This statement from the Vatican comes almost eight years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada issued its Final Report (2015). The Commissioners argued that Papal bulls, which were charters issued by the Pope, justified colonization of the Americas. The charters granted Indigenous lands to the Portuguese Crown, based on discovery and conquest. Three other documents–Inter Caetera, Eximiae Devotionis, Dudum Siquidum— granted Spain the rights to lands that it discovered and called on Spanish explorers to convert Indigenous peoples to Christianity. This colonization ultimately led to the Indian Act, the Indian Residential School System and other genocidal initiatives.
In response to the ongoing legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery, the Commissioners called on various parties to repudiate it. Of most relevance is to Call to Action 49, which addressed the call to religious denominations and faith groups. By the time that the TRC released its final report, the Anglican and United Churches had already complied. In 2016, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops also responded, issuing a statement titled “The ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ and Terra Nullius: A Catholic Response.” The CCCB wrote that “We reject the assertion that the principle of the first taker or discoverer, often described today by the terms Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, could be applied to lands already inhabited by Indigenous Peoples.” This is a strong statement. Nevertheless, I think it is more appropriate to hear the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery from the Vatican, given that the Doctrine was originally legitimized by papal authority.
As I read the Vatican’s statement, I am struck by its reminder that the Church has always, at least in principle, promoted the dignity of every human being. Church authorities throughout history have condemned acts of violence, oppression, injustice and slavery, including against Indigenous peoples. The CCCB document highlighted a long quotation from Sublimis Deus, a Bull issued by Pope Paul III in 1537:
“We define and declare … that …the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession [dominio] of their property, even though they should be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.”
The CCCB notes that similar statements were made by Popes Urban VIII in Commissum Nobis (1639), Benedict XIV in Immensa Pastorum (1741), Gregory XVI in In Supremo (1838), and Leo XIII in In Plurimis (1888). Such calls to recognize the dignity of Indigenous peoples do not, of course, exonerate the Church from the Doctrine of Discovery, particularly considering the systematic abuses of the Residential School System and the fact that the Church operated 60% of these schools. Nor does it absolve the Church from sharing responsibility for the ongoing legacy of colonization, which includes the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the high rates of incarceration for Indigenous peoples, and more.
A statement like the one issued by the Vatican had been a long time coming, but it still is not the end. The Vatican has made it clear that it has repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery; there is no longer any room for questioning this. But now, what do we do? In the sixteenth century, Pope Paul III called for the recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples, yet injustices continued to be perpetuated by members of the Church, even after the statement was issued. In a similar vein, the work of reconciliation does not end just because the Vatican has repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery.
Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples can seem like an abstract concept, and so I wish to focus more particularly on my context at Regis College and the new Regis St. Michael’s (RSM) Faculty of Theology. The CCCB document on the Doctrine of Discovery listed eight commitments, based on the recommendations by its Commission for Justice and Peace. One of these commitments is to:
“Work with centres of pastoral and clergy formation to promote a culture of encounter including the study of the history of Canadian missions, with both their weakness and strengths, which encompasses the history of the Indian Residential Schools. In doing this, it will be important to be attentive to Indigenous versions of Canadian history, and for these centres to welcome and engage Indigenous teachers in the education of clergy and pastoral workers, assuring each student has the opportunity to encounter Indigenous cultures as part of their formation.”
Perhaps the call is to ensure that all students can learn about the history of Canadian missions, the history of Residential Schools, and the importance of reconciliation. From my experience as a student, I only had a handful of courses that talked about the history of the Church’s relationship with Indigenous peoples. At the time, I was disappointed. I have great hope for RSM, however, after seeing that Professor Cynthia Cameron recently received a fellowship grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Religion, for her project entitled “Canadian Indigenous Pedagogies for Theological and Religious Education.” There is progress being done and I look forward to seeing how Professor Cameron’s work will impact the future of RSM.
The Doctrine of Discovery is deeply entrenched in our understanding of what it means to live and work on this land. In fact, it is the reason why most of us are living and working on this land at all. The repudiation of the doctrine shows us, as Catholics, there is a need to constantly re-examine what it means to live and work on this land, to heed the voices calling out against injustice, and to walk with those who have been marginalized into new life.
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