What role did Catholicism play in the lives of the conquering Spaniards? Was that role contradictory?

Catholicism played an important role in the lives of the conquering Spaniards, much the same way that ancient religions played an important role in the lives of the people whom they conquered. Catholicism was not a veneer for what they did, nor an excuse for their horrendous deeds. It was a living faith that affected everything that they did, both the virtues and the sins. The Spaniards drew actively from their faith in everything that they did. Although that may have seemed contradictory, Paz did not find conflict in it. He said that the people were guided by the Church in everything that they did, even when those principles did not match those of the European church. Baptism was also used to open the doors of society to the Indian people. Because of that, Catholicism played an important role, and was actually a living organism in the culture of the Spanish conquistadors.