Papal Donation.

Spain proffered three arguments to justify their seizure of the American continents and their subjugation of the native inhabitants: papal donation, discovery, and conquest. Under papal donation the Spanish crown's lawyers noted that Jesus Christ had given St. Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. According to the officials of the Catholic Church, this bequest, called the Petrine Mandate, gave Peter's successors, the Catholic popes in Rome, the right to convey title to and dominion over lands that had been, or might be, discovered by a Christian nation. With the Inter Caetera Divinae, Pope Alexander VI conveyed title to most of the Americas to Spain. This papal donation was a significant argument for title so long as the Catholic Church remained the only spiritual authority in Europe. After the Protestant Reformation, however, the Protestant nations of...