"You have told us that we do not know the One who gives us life and being, who is Lord of the heavens and of the earth. You also say that those we worship are not gods. This way of speaking is
entirely new to us, and very scandalous. We are frightened by this way of speaking because our forebears who engendered and governed us never said anything like this.
"It would be a fickle, foolish thing for us to destroy the most ancient laws and customs left by the first inhabitants of this land. ..
All of us together feel that it is enough to have lost, enough that
the power and royal jurisdiction have been taken from us. As for our gods, we will die before giving up serving and worshiping them. This is our determination; do what you will.'
Lords and holy men of Tenochtitlan [the Aztec capital], reply to the Franciscans in 1524 after the conquest of Mexico, from a Spanish account written in 1564

The ideas expressed in the excerpt most directly resulted from which of the following?

A) The arrival of Christian missionaries in the Americas
(B)
Grants of encomiendas to Spanish colonists
(C
Treaties for the purchase of Native American territory
(D
Internal disputes among Native American leaders