Extreme controversy surrounds any discussion of the Catholic Church's role in genocide and crimes against humanity. Several issues need to be highlighted in seeking to unravel this controversy. First is the allegation that the Church was directly responsible for the drive toward colonialism in issuing papal bulls that commanded states such as Portugal to spread Catholicism. One might argue that these declarations led European nation-states to believe that it was their right to acquire territories abroad. The fact that crimes against humanity were committed during colonial conquest is uncontested. A second criticism often leveled against the Church is that it has failed in its moral duty to condemn or guide leaders and populations in curbing genocidal tendencies. Such an argument claims that the Church, by virtue of its proclaimed aim of spiritual guidance, ought to have played a more significant role in the prevention of crimes against...