Why was the discovery of the New World of interest to the Catholic Church?

A The church wished to facilitate the spread of scientific discovery and believed that the Americas were the next frontier on which to do this.

B The church was suffering from financial corruption, and leaders sought to increase membership in order to collect more tithes.

C The church aimed to recruit more people to the Catholic faith in order to create a religious stronghold beyond Europe.

D The church was threatened by the rapid spread of Buddhism and wished to claim the Americas as Catholic to offset Buddhist dominance.

Im pretty sure the answer is C.

The correct answer is C. The church aimed to recruit more people to the Catholic faith in order to create a religious stronghold beyond Europe.

Explanation:

The discovery of the New World and the arrival of Europeans to this, imply not only the spread of culture but also the spread of religion. Indeed, native people were forced to believe in the same religion that colonizers. In the case of Catholicism, this was imposed on most of the Native Population in South America, Central America and part of North America. This phenomenon was widely supported by the Catholic Church because the purpose of this was to spread Catholicism and made this religion the dominant one in Europe and other regions of the world. Therefore, the Catholic Church was interested in the discovery of the New World because this implied more power and adherents (Option C).