Papal colony in the Caribbean?

[varyar]

Say that Spain sells Aruba to the Papal States in the 16th century (after Lepanto, maybe). Spain gets some cash, the Pope gets a temporal foothold in the New World. Assuming the Papal States manage to keep Aruba, how does this odd little colony develop?

 

[proximefactum]

Say that Spain sells Aruba to the Papal States in the 16th century (after Lepanto, maybe). Spain gets some cash, the Pope gets a temporal foothold in the New World. Assuming the Papal States manage to keep Aruba, how does this odd little colony develop?

Were there slaves on Aruba? There might be some moral/ethical questions there.

Generally the extra-Italian Papal holdings were frequently occupied by the Papal court and bureaucracy (i.e. Avignon). The Papal States would likely reject the offer unless Aruba was economically and ecclesiastically profitable.

 

[J.D.Ward]

Would this be similar to the Jesuit colonies in Paraguay?

 

[Falastur]

Were there slaves on Aruba? There might be some moral/ethical questions there.

Generally the extra-Italian Papal holdings were frequently occupied by the Papal court and bureaucracy (i.e. Avignon). The Papal States would likely reject the offer unless Aruba was economically and ecclesiastically profitable.

Quite. And Aruba would likely go underfunded for its time under Papal control since the Papacy would be far more interested in controlling European affairs. The Pope really didn't care much for the rest of the world once it became clear that native Asian rulers didn't care for converting.

On the slave issue, there really wouldn't be any moral or ethical dilemma over slave ownership. For a start, the Papacy supported slavery as long as Europeans weren't the ones being enslaved. The Bible actually quite clearly states that slave ownership is not against God's law, and stresses that slaves wishing to be Godly should stay loyal to their masters and never seek to leave their slave status. The Papacy actually used this to support slavery for a long time, though once the slave trade was starting to be questioned by the late 18th century they had had the wisdom to stop commenting publicly.

 

[Valdemar II]

Honestly if the Papal State end up with Caribbian colony, it will be treated like all other colonies there, a money maschine for the owner, so the effect will be that the Papal States have a little more money. Later it will be more interesting, what will the effect be when/if Italy conquer the Papal State, will the colony stay part of the Vatican and what effect will that have?

 

[Polish Eagle]

Honestly if the Papal State end up with Caribbian colony, it will be treated like all other colonies there, a money maschine for the owner, so the effect will be that the Papal States have a little more money. Later it will be more interesting, what will the effect be when/if Italy conquer the Papal State, will the colony stay part of the Vatican and what effect will that have?

Pope moves to the New World? If he has enough Swiss Guard and other soldiers there, he can think that the island is his safest location. Perhaps he can even move there during the reign of Napoleon. Sometime when Europe is shaken by a lot of revolutions that have Catholic priests dying left and right (cough cough, French Revolution).

 

[jkay]

The Papal States would've faced a real problem in keeping a Caribbean colony. It had no real Navy. And it did have enemies who did have top-line navies. It would've had T-A-R-G-E-T on it as far as the Netherlands and UK were concerned.

 

[Falastur]

Pope moves to the New World? If he has enough Swiss Guard and other soldiers there, he can think that the island is his safest location.

His safest location, and the location which guarantees he will now have no influence whatsoever on European affairs. It would be like agreeing to dissolve the office of Pope and Bishop of Rome altogether. It's the same as ideas of monarchs fleeing to the New World. Despite the example set by the Portuguese, fleeing to the New World was not considered as a viable alternative by anyone else. It was consigning yourself to horrid diseases you didn't have the immune system to fight off, and it was consigning yourself to being 6 months' communication time from anyone who mattered. It was in essence a surefire way to become insignificant and fade out of importance. That kind of loss of status could be impossible to recover...