The
Padroado originated when the Portuguese kings took the initiative to explore the coasts of Africa. They pushed to the east, seeking to find new areas for trade. Successive popes granted wide-ranging favors and authorities to the kings, who claimed they were given irrevocable powers to establish and patronize churches and bishoprics in lands opened to Portuguese trade in South Asia. The Padroado was the privilege, granted by the popes to the Crown of Portugal, of designating candidates for the sees and ecclesiastical benefices in the vast domains acquired through the expeditions of its navigators and captains in Africa and the East Indies. This concession, which brought to the King of Portugal a certain portion of the ecclesiastical revenues of his kingdom, carried the condition that he should send good missionaries to his new subjects, and that he should provide with a fitting endowment such dioceses, parishes, and religious establishments as should be established in his acquired territories. In the course of time this patronage became the source of unpleasant annoyances to the Holy See and one of the chief obstacles to the progress of the missions. The main cause of this regrettable change was the failure of Portugal to observe the conditions agreed upon at the time of the bestowal of the privilege. Another reason was the disagreement between Portugal and the Holy See with regard to the extent of the patronage, for, while Rome maintained that it had never granted the privilege except for actually acquired territory, Lisbon claimed the right for all the countries east of a line designated by the
Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal. In virtue of this interpretation the Portuguese Government contested the papal right to appoint, without its consent, missionary bishops or
vicars apostolic in countries which were never subject to its dominion, such as the greater part of India,
Tonkin,
Cochin-China,
Siam, and especially China. As Portuguese influence in the East waned, the
Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith began to assume more responsibility for maintaining the missions. This gave rise in some instances to the existence of two rival jurisdictions: Padroado and Propaganda. ==See also==