Romanus Pontifex

Romanus Pontifex (from Latin: "The Roman Pontiff") is the title of at least three papal bulls:

• One issued in 1436 by Pope Eugenius IV;
• A second issued 21 September 1451 bull by Pope Nicholas V, relieving the dukes of Austria from any potential ecclesiastical censure for permitting Jews to dwell there.
• Another in 1455 by Nicholas V praising Catholic King Afonso V of Portugal for his battles against the Muslims, endorsing his military expeditions into Western Africa and instructing him to capture and subdue all Saracens, Turks, and other non-Christians to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery. The Church leaders argued that slavery served as a natural deterrent and Christianizing influence to “barbarous” behavior among pagans. As a follow-up to the bull Dum Diversas, the church leaders now took positions aside the Crown of Portugal that it was entitled to dominion over all lands south of Cape Bojador in Africa. The bull's primary purpose was to forbid other Christian kings from infringing the King of Portugal's practice of trade and colonisation in these regions, particularly amid the Portuguese and Castilian competition for ascendancy over new lands discovered.