page_title: Spanish colonization of the Americas
section_title: Establishment of the church hierarchy
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish colonization of the Americas / Catholic Church organization / Establishment of the church hierarchy
caption_attribution_description: English: Catedral de Lima in 2015
context_page_description: The Spanish colonization of the Americas began under the Crown of Castile and spearheaded by the Spanish conquistadors. The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British North America, and some small regions in South America and the Caribbean. The crown created civil and religious structures to administer this vast territory. The main motivations for colonial expansion were profit and the spread of Catholicism through indigenous conversions.
  Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean and gaining control over more territory for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the Caribbean Islands, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America. It is estimated that during the colonial period, a total of 1.86 million Spaniards settled in the Americas and a further 3.5 million immigrated during the post-colonial era; the estimate is 250,000 in the 16th century, and most during the 18th century as immigration was encouraged by the new Bourbon Dynasty.
context_section_description: After the 1550s, the crown increasingly favored the diocesan clergy over the religious orders. The diocesan clergy) (also called the [secular clergy]] were under the direct authority of bishops, who were appointed by the crown, through the power granted by the pope in the Patronato Real. Religious orders had their own internal regulations and leadership. The crown had authority to draw the boundaries for dioceses and parishes. The creation of the ecclesiastical hierarchy  of the diocesan clergy marked a turning point in the crown's control over the religious sphere. The structure of the hierarchy was in many ways parallel to that of civil governance. The pope was the head of the Catholic Church, but the granting of the Patronato Real to the Spanish monarchy gave the king the power of appointment (patronage) of ecclesiastics.  The monarch was head of the civil and religious hierarchies. The capital city of a viceroyalty became of the seat of the archbishop.  The region overseen by the archbishop was divided into large units, the diocese, headed by a bishop. The diocese was in turn divided into smaller units, the parish, staffed by a parish priest. 
  In 1574, Philip II promulgated the Order of Patronage (Ordenaza del Patronato) ordering the religious orders to turn over their parishes to the secular clergy, a policy that secular clerics had long sought for the central areas of empire, with their large indigenous populations. Although implementation was slow and incomplete, it was an assertion of royal power over the clergy and the quality of parish priests improved, since the Ordenanza mandated competitive examination to fill vacant positions. Religious orders along with the Jesuits then embarked on further evangelization in frontier regions of the empire.
caption: Lima Cathedral, construction begun in 1535, completed 1649
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