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The synod of 1613, held in Los Reyes de Lima, shows the close collaboration that existed between the viceroy Marqués de Montesclaros and the archbishop Don Bartolomé Lobo Guerrero, who was in charge of compiling the volume. The importance of the print is at least threefold, as it reveals the canonical, historical, and pastoral dimensions with which the church transformed the way the Native Americans had with the supraterrestrial dimension.
The synodal legislation laid down in the document abounds in matters of the defense and doctrine of the natives. Just as it was sought to preserve the dignity of the natives, there is an extensive chapter of the provisions for the extirpation of idolatry. The procedures to combat it ranged from the organization of visits to the adoption of specific measures with people and objects considered idolaters. Likewise, it was sought to improve or update evangelization to eradicate the surviving pre-Hispanic cults. The historical importance of the document lies in being the official and ecclesiastical testimony of the campaigns for the extirpation of idolatries, an event that occurred in Peru considered unique in world history, since it was carried out in a larger context in which the Church Catholic still agitated by the Protestant schism imposed a reformist policy to reinforce and maintain orthodoxy.

Jean Christian Egoavil
Proyecto Estudios Indianos