Among the roughly 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, many are keenly anticipating the upcoming conclave at the Vatican at which members of the College of Cardinals will elect a successor to Pope Francis.

What the world’s Indigenous Catholics don’t want to lose with the death of the first pontiff from the Southern Hemisphere: their relatively newfound voice in an institution that once debated whether “Indians” had souls while backing European powers as they plundered the Americas and Africa.