The Portuguese capture of Ceuta in 1415 was a continuation of the Iberian Reconquista. A series of papal bulls and briefs produced between 1452 and 1456 were most unambiguous in their sanction of Portuguese imperial ambitions. In issuing these particular pronouncements, co-operation between the Vatican and the Portuguese Crown was unusually close. In particular, Romanus Pontifex (January 8, 1455), which has been described as the formal charter of Portuguese expansion, displays the warm relationship between the Crown and the Church. Romanus Pontifex authorised the Portuguese Crown to subdue, enslave, or conquer any Pagan or Muslim peoples whom the Portuguese may encounter on their voyages of discovery between Cape Bojador and the nebulously defined region of "the Indies". In addition, the bull granted the Portuguese a monopoly on all trade and commerce in those regions and forbade any other European nation to interfere with Portuguese activities.

Indeed, in order to ensure that these pronouncements received the wide audience that Portugal desired, the terms were publicly pronounced in Lisbon Cathedral on October 5, 1455 before an audience that included representatives of various foreign communities who had been specially invited to attend. In later years, Portuguese monarchs would heavily rely upon the papal bulls and decrees to justify their authority over discovered lands. For example, after Vasco da Gama's successful voyage to India, King Manuel I wrote to Rome on August 1, 1499 and declared himself to be "Lord of Guinea and of the Conquest of the navigation and commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India". This at a time when there was not a single Portuguese ship east of the Cape of Good Hope.

Spiritual responsibility for newly discovered lands originally resided with the Order of Christ, of which Prince Henry the Navigator was administrator, and was affirmed by the papal bull Inter coetera on March 13, 1456. However, between 1514 and 1552, a series of bulls gradually eliminated the Order of Christ's spiritual monopoly on newly discovered lands and placed it in the hands of Portuguese sovereigns in their dual capacity as reigning monarchs and administrators of the three Portuguese military orders (Christ, Santiago, and Aviz).

Beyond the administrative aspects provided by the Church during the European voyages of exploration, there was a significant crusading aspect involved. As Peter Gay wrote, "even the most genial Christian had to regard his religion as absolutely true (and therefore all others as radically false) and heathens as unwitting precursors, or unregenerate enemies, or miserable souls in need of light." Missionaries from Spain and Portugal went overseas to convert en masse the heathens encountered by sailors in the service to their respective Crowns. In this respect, the Spanish, more than the Portuguese, were focused on establishing what Anthony Pagden calls the Monarchia Universalis, a universal Christian empire. Christian missionaries believed that they were not only bringing a superior religion to these new regions, but also a superior culture.

Once again, papal bulls helped to ensure the exercise of Spanish sovereignty over newly colonised lands. Five bulls issued in 1493 granted to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella a vaguely defined region as "such islands and lands ... as you have discovered or are about to discover." Armed with the bulls, the historiography of the Spanish Empire was presented as a donation somewhat akin to the Donation of Constantine.

The reaction of indigenous populations to the missionaries was widely varied. As C.R. Boxer points out, some genuine attempts were made by missionaries to learn the language and customs of local populations in order to facilitate conversion to Christianity. In one instance in Africa, a Jesuit related witnessing a group of Bantu listening to a Portuguese fidalgo play his guitar. "You see," said one of the Bantu bystanders, "these savages have musical instruments just like we do."

If conditions in Portugal's Asian settlements are compared with those of the Spanish in New Spain and Peru, it is possible to conclude that the Portuguese were much slower to examine and seriously study the cultures of those people they were seeking to convert. Until the first Jesuits arrived with new men and methods at Goa in 1542, comparatively few missionaries were dispatched from Portugal. Those who were sent were more likely to be Franciscan friars, but there was never a situation similar to the "Twelve Apostles," who aided in the spiritual conquest of Spanish Mexico from 1524 onward. Of the few members of the clergy who did travel to Asia, very few were inclined to study even the basic tenets of Islam, Hindu, or Buddhism. Most were content to dismiss all other religions as the work of the Devil.

	St. Francis and the Franciscans
	St. Dominic and the Dominicans
	The Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

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