Doprinos dominikanskoga reda i Francisca de Vitorije u obrani prava naroda u Novom svijetu
The Contribution of the Dominican Order and Francisco de Vitoria in Defending the Rights of Peoples in the New World

Summary/Abstract: The discovery of the New World became a challenge for the Dominican order as well. Dominicans played a significant role in the evangelization of America, but also in the beginnings of what will in the 20th century develop into a human rights discourse, particularly Dominican theologians Francisco de Vitoria and Domingo de Soto. Inspired by the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, they introduced the concepts of natural law and natural rights to discussions of concrete problems of indigenous peoples in the New World. Dominicans in direct contact with victims of human rights violations in the New World, such as Pedro de Córdoba, Antonio Montesinos, and Bartolomé de Las Casas, were strongly connected with Dominican theologians at the University of Salamanca in Spain, who based their thoughts on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas. It was this synergy of Dominican intellectual and apostolic life, best expressed in Aquinas’ »contemplata aliis tradere«, that enabled significant advances in defense of the human rights of the natives.

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