In 1493, the catholic nations of spain and portugal had a conflict. they were rivals in the exploration of the seas. when king john ii of portugal announced he was going to send ships west to claim land for portugal, king ferdinand and queen isabella of spain were concerned – they were hoping to claim all the land to the west. because both nations were catholic, they agreed to let pope alexander vi (the head of the catholic church) settle the matter of who could claim new lands discovered during exploration. if two predominantly catholic nations had a conflict today, do you think the pope would intervene? if not, who do you think would settle the conflict?