After Valades, Rhetorica cristiana, 1579, from Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 14: Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, Part Three, Robert Wauchope, General Editor, Howard F. Cline, Volume Editor, Copyright (c) 1975. Used by permission of the University of Texas Press.						5 of 7   The Encounter
		RELIGIOUS CHANGES he Spanish justified the Conquest by claiming it was their duty to convert heathen souls. Mendicant friars followed soon after the conquistadores and built missions, schools, and hospitals. They made use of parallels between indigenous religious traditions and Catholicism to convert native populations. For instance, rites similar to baptism and confession existed among the Aztecs. The practice of human sacrifice was eradicated. Christ on the Cross provided a new ideal of sacrifice and world redemption.