Paper Title :The Inquisition in Latin America – An Overview of Modern-Day Impacts

Author :Adrian C. Zappala

Article Citation :Adrian C. Zappala , (2017 ) " The Inquisition in Latin America – An Overview of Modern-Day Impacts " , International Journal of Management and Applied Science (IJMAS) , pp. 22-25, Volume-3,Issue-4

Abstract : The Inquisition in Latin America represented a period of time during which the Catholic Church, under influence from colonial powers in Europe – including but not limited to Spain and Portugal, attempted to influence and control religious beliefs in the colonies. These efforts took place over a period of decades during which entanglements between church and state grew and evolved along with the changing nature of colonization in the New World itself. The efforts to ensure that those in the colonies subscribed to official Church doctrine and swayed away from acts and beliefs considered to be heretical in nature coincided with the colonists’ desire for increased economic, political, and social control over the colonies themselves. These actions followed a natural series of progression from colonial control over the colonies in the America through towards independence of the colonies – oftentimes occurring simultaneously or synchronously with the reform or conclusion of events of the Inquisition. Nevertheless, we see that there are lasting effects of colonization of the Americas. One clear example is language – in former colonies of Spain and Portugal, for instance, we see Spanish and Portuguese as common languages. We also see a predominance of Catholicism as a religious belief system and structure. Yet, we also see a persistence of social and political actions that can be clearly related back to the actions of the Inquisition – namely – censorship, related actions of the press and mass media as well as governmental control of same, and ongoing relations and conflicts between the powers of church and state. This paper will review events of the Inquisition as related to these areas – and provide a related discussion to modern-day events in Latin America that have roots in the events of the Inquisition themselves. Keywords - Inquisition, Latin America, censorship

Type : Research paper

Published : Volume-3,Issue-4

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