Describe the means by which Spain attempted to defend and spread Catholicism at home and abroad.

Spanish missionaries spread Catholicism through America by preaching the doctrine to the native Indians.

The Franciscan religious order was one of the first that arrived after the conquest and started their missions because the Pope had said that "Indians wer capable of learning Catholicism".

They did it by establishing priorities. Number one, establishing peace in the region which would allow the process of conversation.

The key element for the missioners to make indians accept the conversion was a smart move. They realized the reluctance of the Indians to accept Catholic principles. So what they did was to create groups of people in the religious places they had like pyramids, monuments, and sacred places, and step by step they gather the community there to establish evangelization.

That way was so much easier for them to make people accept to listen to the new doctrine.

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