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Bulls are political declarations issued by the Pope. They're retractable. They came from a time when the Vatican wielded significant political power. There is not enough space here to fully explain each of these papal bulls and their contents. I direct you to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops' own statement against the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius. Suffice it to say that these papal bulls, taken collectively, amounted to approval for certain Catholic European countries to assert sovereignty over new regions.Of course, those governments did whatever they wanted, with or without the Vatican's assent. For example, one of these infamous papal bulls is Inter Caetera from 1493. It gave Spain the right to govern over a vast portion of the Americas. This bull sought to resolve territorial conflicts between Spain and Portugal. It failed to achieve its goal. Soon after, Spain broke the rules, extending beyond the bounds established by the bull. Spain then went on to use the bull to justify depriving local Indigenous peoples of their land and sovereignty. It's no surprise that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action make numerous references to the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, including a request on Christian denominations to reject it.That's what the Catholic Church has done. It didn't take long. Inter Coetera began to expire a year after it went into existence, all because Spain violated it. 

Remember, as the Vatican has indicated.

subsequent papal bulls supersede prior ones. In 1537, the pope, Paul III, issued a new Deus, which declared: "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 of their property… 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 Canadian bishops mention many papal decrees that follow the course established by Sublimus Deus:Popes Urban VIII, Benedict XIV, Gregory XVI, and Leo XIII have all condemned the enslavement and abuse of Indigenous peoples, including in the bull Commissum Nobis, Immensa Pastorum, In Supremo, and In PlurimisIn the modern period, the Vatican condemned the bulls before the United Nations in 2010, claiming that "Inter Coetera has already been repealed" and has "no legal or doctrinal value. They go on to assert that "the fact that juridical systems may employ the 'Doctrine of Discovery' as a juridical precedent is therefore now a characteristic of the laws of those states and is independent of the fact that for the Church the document has had no value whatsoever for centuries."More recently, in a 2016 statement condemning the principles that underpinned the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, the Canadian bishops, alongside other leading Catholic Canadian organizations, declared that "we firmly assert that there is no basis in the Church's Scriptures, tradition, or theology, for the European seizure of land already inhabited by Indigenous Peoples" and "we reject the assertion that the principle of the first taker or discoverer, often described as

And, of course, we have Pope Francis' statements. 

from earlier this week: "I am deeply sorry." Sorry for the manner in which, tragically, many Christians supported the colonial mindset of the forces that persecuted indigenous peoples. I apologize. I seek forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the Church and religious communities participated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of the time, culminating in the residential school system." Organizers of the papal visit see this last comment as a rejection of the Doctrine of Discovery.Aside from condemning the Doctrine, the Canadian bishops have firmly backed the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which "resonates strongly with statements already made by the Catholic Church." These include Indigenous self-determination, self-government, the right to customary areas, and the right to their own educational institutions, among others. The Doctrine of Discovery is diametrically opposed to the ideals outlined in the UNDRIP. During his tour to Canada, the Pope expressly said that Canadian Catholic communities are dedicated to fostering Indigenous peoples and cultures "in the spirit of UNDRIP."However, Archbishop Don Bolen of Regina stated last week that "those papal bulls are not operative, [yet] on the other hand, we resonate with the Indigenous desire to name those papal bulls, to say we completely distance ourselves from them." The archbishop stated that a Vatican document is being prepared that will provide additional clarification on the subject.

Clarity is always a good thing. Despite the. 

misunderstanding, we must remember that the Doctrine of Discovery is invalid under Catholic teaching.It's not like the Catholic Church doesn't have enough issues to deal with. Along with the sex scandals of the past half-century, Pope Francis traveled to Canada this week to try mend the wounds between the Church and Canada's First Nations.A new book1 on the never-ending argument about Pope Pius XII and the Vatican's complicity in the Holocaust during World War II has been launched. It is relentless in depicting the pope's guilt. The Catholic Church is constantly at odds with the past, as well as the present.The first attack on Pius XII's reputation and role in the Holocaust began with Rolf Hochhuth's seven-hour drama The Deputy, produced in 1963.2 The play provided an opportunity to investigate the pope's collaboration with Hitler and Mussolini. Several works followed, vilifying Pius XII as the most "dangerous churchman in modern history" and accusing him of putting Catholic self-interest before of Catholic morality. Perhaps the most damaging book was John Cornwell's Hitler's Pope, published in 1999.3 At the turn of the century, approximately nine volumes were released on the pope's role in the conflict, demonstrating the topic's continued popularity.