usurping the authority of native rulers or in seizing the lands and goods of their subjects. 13.13. As long as such infidels have not opposed the propagation of the Gospel and have not refused to receive the Faith preached to them, no Christian tribunal or judge has a right to punish them for the practice of idolatry or for the commission of any sins, no matter how heinous. 14.14. The New World was discovered during the pontificate of Alexander VI., hence that pontiff was obliged to designate some Christian prince under whose protection the propagation of the Faith should be carried on. 15.15. Since the Catholic sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, had protected and aided Columbus in making his discovery, and had, moreover, expelled the Mahometans from their land, the Pope perceived the special claims they had to receive this privilege, and the great advantages to religion of confiding this mission to them. 16.16. The Pope, having authority to grant such a privilege, has power likewise to annul, revoke, or suspend it for just cause; or he may transfer it to some other ruler and forbid all others to interfere. 17.17. The jurisdiction over the Indies held by the sovereigns of Spain is lawful. 18.18. The native rulers in the Indies are therefore obliged to submit to the jurisdiction of the Spanish sovereigns. 19.19. Once the native rulers have voluntarily and freely accepted the Faith and been baptised Christians, they become bound by another title than before to acknowledge the Spanish sovereignty. 20.20. The law of God imposes on the Spanish sovereigns this duty of selecting proper persons and sending them to preach Christianity to the natives, and to neglect nothing that may ensure their conversion. 21.21. They share this obligation with the Pope and, before the conversion of the natives has been accomplished, they have the same power over them as has His Holiness. 22.22. The Catholic Faith may be best spread throughout the New World by imitating the example of our Lord in establishing His religion upon earth. The natives are submissive, docile people, who may be won by kindness, charity, and good examples of holy living. They should be encouraged and favoured, and treated as brothers. 23.23. The Romans, Mahometans, Moors, and Turks have propagated their doctrines by the sword, but such means are tyrannical, and it is blasphemy for Christians to imitate such cruelties; what has already been done in the Indies has caused the natives to believe the Christian God to be the most merciless and cruel of all deities. 24.24. It is only natural that the Indians should defend their countries from armed invasion, thus they resist the propagation of the Faith. 25.25. The Spanish sovereigns have from the outset repeatedly forbidden