“The influence of the Catholic Church on the indigenous populations of the Americas was beneficial.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Candidates will consider the merits or otherwise of the statement. They may choose to address the beneficial and detrimental effects in discrete groups, or they may choose to focus on individual arguments. Candidates are expected to offer opinions and conclusions that are supported by appropriate evidence. The Catholic Church became a driving force in the Spanish conquest when the Pope awarded the Catholic monarchs the exclusive right of evangelization of the indigenous populations in 1493. This legitimized the conquest as a war against paganism. In French North America, the Church interacted with the indigenous peoples and attempted to evangelize them with mixed results. Candidates may argue that the religious beliefs of the indigenous populations were neither understood nor respected. The Catholic Church banned native religious ceremonies, destroyed their idols and forced entire groups to convert, sometimes by persuasion, sometimes by force. Some indigenous populations were moved into missions where religious orders taught them to read and write as well as different farming techniques. Some candidates may argue that the Catholic Church contributed to the protection of the indigenous populations, citing Bartolome de Las Casas.