Dicastery for Culture and Education and Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. “Joint Statement on the ‘Doctrine of Discovery.’” Holy See Press Office, March 30, 2023. Read the official statement
The statement declares that the Doctrine of Discovery “is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church” and repudiates concepts that deny the inherent human rights of Indigenous Peoples. It acknowledges that the papal bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455), and Inter Caetera (1493) failed to reflect Indigenous Peoples’ equal dignity and rights and were manipulated to justify colonial wrongdoing.
However, the statement did not formally rescind or revoke those papal bulls. This distinction remains important: repudiating the doctrine is a meaningful moral step, but Indigenous leaders continue to call for explicit revocation, truth-telling, reparative action, restoration of lands and sacred objects, and reform of legal systems that still rely upon the Doctrine of Discovery.