Sublimis Deus Latin for 'The sublime God'
Papal bull of Pope Paul III
Signature date
2 June 1537
Subject
Prohibition of the enslavement of the indigenous people of the Americas
Text
In English
← Pastorale officium
Sublimis Deus (English: The sublime God;[1] erroneously cited as Sublimus Dei) is a Papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on June 2, 1537, which forbids the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (called "Indians of the West and the South") and all other indigenous people who could be discovered later or previously known.[2] It states that the Indians are fully rational human beings who have rights to freedom and property, even if they are heathen.[3] Another related document is the ecclesiastical letter Pastorale officium, issued May 29, 1537, and usually seen as a companion document to Sublimis Deus.[4]
There is still some controversy about how this bull is related to the documents known as Veritas ipsa, Unigenitus Deus and Pastorale officium (May 29, 1537). Alberto de la Hera believes that Veritas ipsa and Unigenitus Deus are simply other versions of Sublimis Deus, and not separate bulls.[5] Joel Panzer sees Veritas ipsa as an earlier draft of Sublimis Deus.[6]
In Sublimis Deus, Paul III declares the indigenous peoples of the Americas to be "truly men and that they are not only capable of understanding the Catholic Faith but, according to our information, they desire exceedingly to receive it", and denounces any idea to the contrary as directly inspired by the "enemy of the human race". He goes on to condemn their reduction to slavery in the strongest terms, declaring it null and void for any people known as well as any that could be discovered in the future, entitles their right to liberty and property, and concludes with a call for their evangelization.[1]
The bull had a strong impact on the Valladolid debate. Its principles became part of New Laws issued by Charles V in Spain, although such laws were often ignored by the colonists and conquistadores themselves.[7]
^ ab"Sublimis Deus On the Enslavement and Evangelization of Indians". Papal Encyclicals. May 29, 1537. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
^Latin and English in Joel S. Panzer: The Popes and Slavery (New York: Alba House, 1996), pp. 79-81 "Sublimis Deus sic delexit humanum genus" (The exalted God loved the human race so much)
^A History of Latin America to 1825. John Wiley & Sons. December 21, 2009. ISBN 9781405183680 – via Google Books. "Traboulay, David M., "Las Casas Remembered: The 500th Anniversary of the Struggle for the Human Rights of the Native Peoples of America" (2015). CUNY Academic Works". Stamatov, Peter (December 23, 2013). The Origins of Global Humanitarianism: Religion, Empires, and Advocacy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107470286 – via Google Books. Drew, David (August 19, 1999). "The lost chronicles of the Maya kings". Berkeley ; Los Angeles : University of California Press – via Internet Archive. Fahlbusch, Erwin (May 2008). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. BRILL. ISBN 9789004169678. Schultz, David Andrew (2010-05-18). Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution. Infobase. ISBN 9781438126777.
^Pierce, Donna; Gomar, Rogelio Ruiz; Bargellini, Clara (May 2004). Painting a New World: Mexican Art and Life, 1521-1821. University of Texas Press. p. 98. ISBN 9780914738497. sublimis deus Indians were fully rational human.
^Alberto de la Hera, "El derecho de los indios a la libertad y a la fe: la bula Sublimis Deus y los problemas indianos que la motivaron,” Anuario de historia del derecho español, Vol. 26, 1956, 89-182
^The Popes and Slavery [New York: Alba House, 1996] p. 17
document to SublimisDeus. There is still some controversy about how this bull is related to the documents known as Veritas ipsa, Unigenitus Deus and Pastorale...
Parma two years after his death. In May–June 1537 Paul issued the bull SublimisDeus (also known as Unigenitus and Veritas ipsa), described by Prein (2008)...
for centuries, with several Popes issuing bulls on the issue, such as SublimisDeus. By the 1800s, the Church reached relative consensus in favor of condemning...
ecclesiastical letter Pastorale officium and the superseding encyclical SublimisDeus. In the early years, most mission work was undertaken by the religious...
and deserved baptism, Pope Paul III in the papal bull Veritas Ipsa or SublimisDeus (1537) confirmed that the Indians were deserving people. Afterward,...
Indigenous people in the encomiendas. His efforts influenced the papal bull SublimisDeus of 1537 which established the status of the Indigenous people as rational...
reproduces Pastorale officium, but not SublimisDeus, though he includes Veritas ipsa, a variant of SublimisDeus. He blames Las Casas for the 'exaggerated...
indigenous people should be considered human, and extracted a Papal bull (SublimisDeus) proclaiming that, irrespective of their beliefs, they should be considered...
too new in the faith to be ordained. Pope Paul III did issue a bull, SublimisDeus (1537), declaring that natives were capable of becoming Christians,...
the practice of slavery. Other later popes, such as Pope Paul III in SublimisDeus (1537), Pope Benedict XIV in Immensa Pastorium (1741), and Pope Gregory...
were truly human and worthy of baptism, Pope Paul III in the 1537 bull SublimisDeus confirmed that "their souls were as immortal as those of Europeans"...
even though the papal bull SublimisDeus of 1537 forbade the enslavement of non-Christians. The executive brief for SublimisDeus was withdrawn by the Pope...
to be discovered, establishing their right to freedom and property (SublimisDeus). 1542 Spain The New Laws ban slave raiding in the Americas and abolish...
and deserved baptism, Pope Paul III in the papal bull Veritas Ipsa or SublimisDeus (1537) confirmed that the Indians were deserving people. Afterward,...
order to make his best argument in favor of the indigenous people. SublimisDeus "Mirror of the Cruel and Horrible Spanish Tyranny Perpetrated in the...
Catholic Church". The Vatican's statement pointed to the 1537 papal bull, SublimisDeus, which affirmed the liberty and property rights of indigenous peoples...
Trondheim to Lier, Belgium. June 2 – Pope Paul III publishes the encyclical SublimisDeus, which declares the natives of the New World to be rational beings with...
World History" 2001 Archived February 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine SublimisDeus, 1537 Catholic Encyclopedia "Reductions of Paraguay" "Brazil's Prized...
Indigenous peoples of the Americas Spanish colonization of the Americas SublimisDeus Hanke 1949 Simpson 1950 Hussey 1939 Rafael Sánchez Domingo (2012). Las...
Trondheim to Lier, Belgium. June 2 – Pope Paul III publishes the encyclical SublimisDeus, which declares the natives of the New World to be rational beings with...
Evans, Fifty Key Medieval Thinkers, (Routledge, 2002), 151. "Benedictus Deus". papalencyclicals.net. 2008. Archived from the original on 31 May 2013....
slavery'. (Later there will be a dramatic reversal when, in 1537, the bull SublimisDeus of Pope Paul III forbids the enslavement of non-Christians.) February...
Catholic Church". The Vatican's statement pointed to the 1537 papal bull, SublimisDeus, which affirmed the liberty and property rights of indigenous peoples...
slavery'. (Later there will be a dramatic reversal when, in 1537, the bull SublimisDeus of Pope Paul III forbids the enslavement of non-Christians.) February...
Indian slavery was first abolished by Pope Paul III in the 1537 bull SublimisDeus which confirmed that "their souls were as immortal as those of Europeans"...
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