The times they are changin’. In the 1450’s Pope Nicholas V provided legal justification for the conquest and theft of indigenous peoples’ lands and resources worldwide in the Romanus Pontifex decree. 560 years later, Francis, the first Pope from Latin America, says that indigenous peoples have the right to “prior and informed consent”. In other words, nothing should happen on—or impact—their land, territories, and resources unless they agree to it.
Pope Francis: Indigenous people must have final say about their land
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