The Reformation · 2 June 1537
Sublimis Deus
Pope Paul III · 1468–1549
What it is
A bull declaring that the peoples of the Americas are rational beings capable of the faith, must not be enslaved, and are to keep their liberty and property.
Why it lasted
The clearest papal statement against the enslavement of indigenous Americans, and widely ignored by those it was addressed to.
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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