HIST 384A Latin America and the Vatican, 1492-present
This course will explore the history of Latin America, with particular attention to the region's relationship to the Holy See. Since 1493, when the Papal bulls of Pope Alexander VI allowed the Spanish and Portuguese crowns to lay claim to the Western hemisphere, the relationship with Latin America has been an abiding concern for the Roman See. This course explores the details of this involvement, beginning with the arrival of Columbus and covering the evangelization of indigenous peoples (including early debates in Rome and Christian Europe over the humanity and treatment of indigenous Americans); the establishment of Catholic institutions and missions across Latin America (and the relationship between these Catholic entities and Rome); the renewed relationship between Latin America and the Vatican after Independence and throughout the nineteenth century; the role of Vatican diplomacy during twentieth-century Church-state conflicts such as Mexico's Cristero War and Christian Democratic Movement in Chile; and post-Vatican II developments in Latin American relations with Rome, especially liberation theology. We will close with a consideration of the current relationship between the Vatican and Latin America, with a special focus on the significance of Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope, for the region.