VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is mounting a campaign to defend an 18th century Franciscan missionary who will be canonized by Pope Francis in the U.S. against protests from Native Americans.
The Vatican is teaming up with the archdiocese of Los Angeles to host a daylong celebration May 2 at the main U.S. seminary in Rome to honor the Rev. Junipero Serra, who introduced Christianity to much of California as he marched north with Spanish conquistadors.
For the church, Serra was a great evangelizer and a model for today’s Hispanics. Many Native Americans, though, say Serra helped wipe out native populations, enslaved converts and spread disease as he brutally imposed Christianity.
Vatican officials on Monday denounced moves to remove Serra’s statue from Congress, saying the historic record shows he defended Native Americans.
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Who’s [sic] historic record?
Indeed.
When the Christians landed, they read a declaration of sovereignty to the native population (although not in a language that the native population could understand) which said, in essence, that Jesus Christ owned all the Americas and that his representative, the Pope, has come to claim it in his name. And, further, that if the natives refused to convert to Catholicism, war was a justifiable means to force them to do so. It’s called the Requerimiento.
Interesting question. Let’s make it more explicit:
“Who is historic record?”
Typical racist left wing anti-Christian crock of shit, this is.
The Requerimiento was in Spanish. Serra was encouraging bilingualism.