Una biblioteca americana en Roma: universalidad y fragilidades en la escritura misionera (1566-1725)

This article proposes a methodological and conceptual approach for the study of books about Catholic missions in the Americas, which were published in Rome between 1566 and 1725. It discusses whether, and to what extent Rome was a point of reference of the American world through its publications on missions. During this period, Rome consolidated itself as the normative and articulating center of Catholicism's universalizing program. However, its role in producing and disseminating knowledge about American missions has not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, this article proposes to explore the cultural, political, and intellectual implications of missions within the Roman publishing world and thus to study how missionary writing and views of America were shaped by the project of universality embodied by Rome. In addition, the article proposes that, by means of missionary writing, the missionary negotiated the universalizing project of Roman Catholicism with his own particular experience and fragility in America.