Pedro de Reina y Maldonado and the visits against idolatry: A duty of the Bishops in the Indies?

Abstract

During the 17th and 18th Centuries, several dioceses of the Andean plateau subject to the Archdiocese of Lima were visited to eradicate idolatry among the indigenous population to end the traditions, practices and rites not related to the orthodox Catholic doctrine. In this context, Pedro de Reina Maldonado, canon from Trujillo, stated that the American bishops had the duty, which was not laid down in the Universal Canon Law, to organize these mobile courts. Hence, this article studies and analyses if the organization of these visits against idolatry was actually an Episcopal obligation –and, consequently, of the Canon Law of the Indies- presented and stated by an ambitious priest born in Lima who wanted to ascend in the ecclesiastical hierarchy.