Avisos y reglas para confesores de españoles

The Avisos y reglas para confesores de españoles (Admonitions and Regulations for the Confessors of Spaniards) was a work by Bartolomé de Las Casas. Written in 1545, it was a set of guidelines for priests hearing confessions from Spaniards in the Americas.1

Las Casas, a Dominican friar and missionary, was a prominent advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. In this work, he instructed confessors to deny absolution to those who held Indigenous people in encomiendas (land grants that included Indigenous inhabitants). This was a significant measure aimed at curbing the exploitation of Indigenous populations by Spanish colonizers. The work reflects Las Casas's broader efforts to reform Spanish colonial policy and protect the Indigenous peoples from oppression.213