March 2, 2016

United Nations, Holy See And The Racist Doctrine of Discovery

By Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer



The International Organization for Self-Determination and Equality (IOSDE) recently posted a press release entitled, United Nations Declares The Holy See Legally Responsible and Accountable To Indigenous Peoples For Effects and Legacy Of Racist Colonial Bulls And Doctrines. The press-release is about the Apache-Ndé-Nneé Working Group Shadow Report / UN-CERD 88th Session: Review of the Holy See.

One Apache-Ndé-Nneé Working Group Shadow Report statement reads: The Holy See's Inter Caetera not only blessed policies and practices of colonialism that caused what is expressed by Indigenous Peoples themselves as genocide, cultural genocide, and generations of suffering, slavery and loss, but it also put policies and practices into action, such as, but not limited to, through its own missionaries and missions, churches and subsequent schools, that operated and continue to operate in alliance with Kingdoms and subsequently States for own mutually-collective world dominance and at the cost of Indigenous Peoples and their lands, lives, self-determination and cultures.

"The United Nations (UN) Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has recognized that the Doctrine of Discovery, the Holy See's Inter Caetera and related Papal Bulls are within the legal scope of racial discrimination under International Law and therefore require redress." - IOSDE

"The UN-CERD Committee has also recognized in its concluding observations that the Holy See is responsible for the past and present effects, i.e. the ongoing legacy, of these historical racist legal documents, and that, in addition, the Holy See must be in direct dialogue with appropriate representatives of Indigenous Peoples to discuss its accountability." - IOSDE.

In compliance with this UN-CERD Committee mandate, there is now a Holy See high-level dialogue with Indigenous Peoples scheduled to take place in Rome. One UN-CERD Committee preparatory directive to the Holy See that assist/guides this forthcoming dialogue reads: "While welcoming the statement made by Pope Francis in the Plurinational State of Bolivia in July 2015, in which he apologized for the Catholic Church in the context of colonialism against indigenous peoples in the Americas, the Committee notes the concerns expressed by indigenous peoples regarding the current legacy and effects of the Doctrine of Discovery endorsed in the Inter Caetera from 1493 and its related papal bulls, as well as other issues. The Committee requests the State party [the Holy See] to provide information in its next periodic report on the outcome of the meeting and concrete follow-up measures taken."

There was a Continental Meeting of the Indigenous Peoples to prepare for Pope Francis' Mexico visit which occurred in February. A statement by the host of this meeting, the Continental Commission Abya Yala - Mexico, declared that the Doctrine of Discovery "is the philosophical-political-legal and ideological principle upon which the ongoing illegal and immoral Continental Colonial Regime came to be established which was first introduced by the Spanish Crown and then succeeded by all of the nation states of the Americas when they emerged as independent republics."

Both, the United Nations Apache-Ndé-Nneé Working Group and Continental Commission Abya Yala [Americas] indigenous peoples group seek "restored sovereignty and full and equal participation in political affairs" for all indigenous peoples.

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues titled its preliminary study on the Doctrine of Discovery: Impact on Indigenous Peoples of the International Legal construct known as the Doctrine of Discovery, which has served as the Foundation of the Violation of their Human Rights.

Steven Newcomb (Shawnee, Lenape) is a world renowned expert on the Doctrine of Discovery. A recent article of his is titled, U.S. Federal Indian Law and Mind Control. Indian Country Today Media Network (ICTMN), the world's largest Indian news source, published this article by Newcomb. My 273 word comment on this ICTMN article (it's the first of four selective comments) reads:

"Good article Mr. Newcomb. Delusional White Christian supremacy ideas and beliefs dominate and control the current American legal system that subjugates pagan Native peoples in this land which was once solely occupied by Native nations."

"Native peoples of the many tribes living in the invalid nation state of the U.S.A. have to want their tribes to be free and independent nations once again before the current educational system will change in a way that promotes the establishment of free and independent Native nations."

"And the delusional White Christian supremacy, imperialistic world domination, agenda of the American Christian political ethic will also have to come to an end before this change can occur. The Roman Catholic Church is the source of this problem."

"Many of the early century 'Christians' were called Gnostics. Their religious beliefs were similar to Hindu and Platonic pagan beliefs, but they and their religious texts (with the exception of some of them that were buried/hidden in a sealed jar) were destroyed by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1945, the hidden Gnostic texts were discovered. This is now causing a profound revisionism of Christian history leading to a major theological revolution. It, along with new scientific discoveries, are exposing traditional Christian orthodoxy as a false religious system. Therefore, there is hope that these changes will soon occur. My on-line article titled Native Rights, Pope Francis and the New World Order presents more information on this topic."