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Answer

The Vatican bears a high degree of historical accountability for the Portuguese Inquisition in the colonies because it provided the initial religious and legal justification for Portuguese imperial expansion and the subjugation of non-Christian peoples, even though the specific actions of the Inquisition were largely administered as a state-controlled institution. 

Vatican’s Role and Justification

Papal Bulls: 

A series of 15th-century Papal Bulls (e.g., Dum Diversas in 1452, Romanus Pontifex in 1455) formed the “Doctrine of Discovery” which granted Portugal the right to “invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers” and take their territories and property. These bulls provided the religious mandate and moral authority for the subsequent colonial ventures and forced conversions in places like Goa and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Establishment of the Inquisition: The formal Portuguese Inquisition was established in 1536 by the order of Pope Paul III (Cum ad nihil magis). While the Grand Inquisitor was appointed by the Pope, they were selected by the King of Portugal, making the institution a hybrid of church and state authority.

Missionary Influence: Prominent Catholic figures, such as Saint Francis Xavier, explicitly petitioned the Portuguese King for the establishment of the Inquisition in Goa to punish “crypto-Jews” and ensure the “purity” of the Catholic faith among new converts. 

State Control and Implementation

The Portuguese Inquisition in Goa (established in 1560) was an arm of the Portuguese state, operating with considerable institutional independence from direct, day-to-day papal control compared to the medieval inquisition. The Crown used it as a tool for social control, wealth confiscation, and to enforce loyalty to the Portuguese Empire, targeting Hindus, Muslims, and New Christians who continued their former practices in secret. In Portuguese occupied Ceylon the Buddhist Sinhalese were the main victims of the Reign of Terror unleashed by the Portuguese.

Father S.G. Perera in his book ‘A History of Ceylon for Schools’ divides the Portuguese presence in the island as falling into three distinct stages 

a) Portuguese – Sinhalese alliance (1505 – 1551)

b) Portuguese Protectorate of Kotte (1551 – 1597)

c) Portuguese Domination (1597 – 1658)

Learned Historians and commentators now generally regard the arrival of the Portuguese in the year 1505 as the beginning of the Dark Age in the history of Sri Lanka. The Portuguese, through a policy of cunning statecraft and ruthless terror were able to govern the coastal areas of the island for most of the next 150 years, until the Dutch replaced them in 1658.

Sir James Emerson Tennent refers to the Portuguese conduct in Sri Lanka in these terms-

There is no page in the story of European colonization more gloomy and repulsive than that which recounts the proceedings of the Portuguese in Ceylon. Astonished at the magnitude of their enterprises, and the glory of their discoveries and conquests in India, the rapidity and success of which secured for Portugal an unprecedented renown, we are ill-prepared to hear of the rapacity, bigotry and cruelty which characterized every stage of their progress in the East. They appeared in the Indian seas in the three-fold character of merchants, missionaries and pirates. Their ostensible motto was amity, commerce and religion. Their expeditions consisted of soldiers as well as adventurers, and included friars and chaplain majors. Their instructions were to begin by preaching, but, failing, to proceed to the decision of the sword.” (10) 

The Sinhalese historian Paul E. Peiris observes :

They found in Ceylon a contented race and a fairly prosperous country ….. and it is melancholy to reflect that they succeeded in producing nothing but chaos. Out of a long list of high – born Hidalgos whom Portugal sent to Ceylon, it is difficult to point to one name as that of an enlightened statesman and high – principled administrator….

No stately fabric remains to compensate for that religious fanaticism to which ample witness is borne by the devastated ruins of those lovely structures which the piety of generations had strewn over the country… Their bequest to the Dutch was a colony of half –castes, a failing agriculture, a depopulated country, and a miserable and ill – conditioned people… They had in Ceylon an opportunity almost unique in the experience of European nations in the East, but their moral fiber had proved unequal to the occasion…”.(11)

G.P. Malalasekera in his Ph.D. dissertation which was later published as a book under the title ‘ The Pali Literature of Ceylon’ makes the following comment in lucid language on the high handed methods employed by the Portuguese in pursuit of their colonial objectives which included conversion of the people of the country into Christianity and the concomitant repression of Buddhism:

, Every stage of their progress was marked by a rapacity, bigotry, cruelty and inhumanity unparalleled in the annals of any other European colonial power. Their ferocity and their utter indifference to all suffering increased with the success of their army; their inhuman barbarities were accompanied by callousness which knew no distinction between man, woman and child; no feeling of compassion was strong enough to stay their savage hands in their fell work. To terrify their subjects and bring home to them the might of the Portuguese Power, they committed atrocities which had they not been found recorded in the decades of their friendly historians, seems too revolting to be true. Babes were spitted on the soldier’s pikes and held up so that their parents might hear the young cocks crow. Sometimes they were smashed to pulp between millstones, while their mothers were compelled to witness the pitiful sight before they themselves were tortured to death. Men including Buddhist monks were thrown over bridges for the amusement of the troops to feed the crocodiles in the river, which eventually grew so tame that at whistle they would raise their heads above the water in anticipation of the welcome feast.” (12) 

see

Repression of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by Portuguese (1505 – 1658)

Repression of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by Portuguese by Senaka Weeraratna

Modern Accountability

The modern Vatican has not issued a specific apology for the Goa or Ceylon Inquisitions. However, Pope John Paul II made a general, sweeping apology in 2000 for the historical sins and violence committed by the Catholic Church throughout its history, including the Inquisitions at large. 

While some contemporary Catholic figures and historians argue that the actions in the colonies were primarily state-driven abuses of papal authority for political purposes, critics maintain that the Vatican’s foundational authorization (the Papal Bulls) makes it inherently accountable for the resulting atrocities. In 2023, the Vatican formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery” as not part of Catholic faith, a step toward acknowledging the harm caused, but stopped short of a full apology for historical actions. 

Conclusion

The Chapter covering Sri Lanka’s Demand from Portugal for an Apology, Restitution in Integrum ( legal term that means “restoration to the original condition”), Catharsis, Atonement,  Repatriation of stolen artifacts, and Reparations, is not closed yet. 

Source: AI Overview 

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