What was the role of the Inquisition in the Colonies?

The question of the jurisdiction of the Holy Office of the Inquisition over the native populations in
New Spain and the rest of the empire has been one of controversy and confusion since the
earliest days of the conquest. The perplexing problem of enforcing orthodoxy among the
recently converted Indians was linked with the debate over whether or not the Indian was a
rational human being who had the capacity to comprehend the Roman Catholic faith and enjoy
the full sacramental system of the Church. As in the case of the rationality controversy, the
position of the Indian vis-a-vis the Holy Office of the Inquisition was not resolved articulately,
and after the first decades of the spiritual conquest the question took on added importance as
the Mexican clergy discovered recurrent idolatry and religious syncretism among their flocks. All
in all, the wiping out of “idolatry” and “pagan superstitions” in New Spain continued to be the
main goal under an institutional framework quite similar to the Inquisition - after 1571 the
Tribunal of the Holy Office acted as a fact finding agency in the uncovering and disciplining of
Indian transgressions against orthodoxy