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Pope Rat's Lame Half-Apology for Indigenous Remarks
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Pope Rat felt the heat. He's now said that yes,the indigenous
suffered at the hands of European colonial invaders, but still insists
they really wanted to be converted, it's just that they were "silent"
about their desire. So silent they resisted forced conversion and
slavery to the death in many cases. What a schmuck. -NY Transfer]
excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - May 23, 2007
[Pope Benedict XVI issued a partial correction of statements made last
week about the treatment of indigenous peoples by religious
missionaries during the conquest of the Americas. Reuters reports that
Benedict recognize religious colonization entailed "injustices and
sufferings," but maintained that indigenous groups were "silently
longing" for Christianity.-VIO]
Reuters via The Washington Post - May 23, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052300153.html
Pope acknowledges colonial injustices in Americas
By Phil Stewart
Reuters
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict, under fire in Latin America for saying
the Catholic Church had purified Indians, acknowledged on Wednesday
that injustices were committed during the colonialization of the
Americas.
But he stopped short of apologizing as demanded by some leaders,
including Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.
"While we do not overlook the various injustices and sufferings which
accompanied colonization, the Gospel has expressed and continues to
express the identity of the peoples in this region," the Pope said on
Wednesday.
In a speech to Latin American and Caribbean bishops at the end of a
visit to Brazil earlier this month, the Pope said the Church had not
imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
He said they had welcomed the arrival of European priests at the time
of the conquest as they were "silently longing" for Christianity.
Chavez has accused the Pope of ignoring the "holocaust" that followed
Christopher Columbus's landing in the Americas in 1492. Indian leaders
in Brazil have said they were offended by the Pope's "arrogant and
disrespectful" comments.
Millions of tribal Indians are believed to have died as a result of
European colonization backed by the Church, through slaughter, disease
or enslavement.
It was not the first time the German-born Pontiff's comments sparked
controversy.
Benedict infuriated Muslims worldwide in September with a lecture that
seemed to depict Islam as an irrational religion tainted with violence.
He later expressed regret at the pain his comments caused and defused
tensions during a trip to Turkey, where he prayed at a mosque and
called Islam a peaceful faith.
Los Angeles Times - May 23, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pope23may23,1,501618.story
Pope's remarks on conquest denounced
Latin American groups and leaders call his statement a revision of a
history marked by violence and destruction.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
BUENOS AIRES ? Pope Benedict XVI's declaration in Brazil that
colonial-era evangelization in the New World did not represent "the
imposition of a foreign culture" has ignited criticism from indigenous
representatives and the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia.
Indigenous groups from Chile to Mexico have condemned the remarks as a
revision of a history marked by massacres, enslavement and destruction
of native cultures.
For many in Latin America, the incident was reminiscent of provocative
comments the pope made last year about Islam, unleashing a wave of
anger across the Muslim world.
The response this time has been concentrated in the region, but
analysts say the reaction again illustrates the pope's apparent tin ear
for the often provocative content of his discourse.
Despite a keen analytical mind, "Benedict can also be remarkably
tone-deaf to how his pronouncements may sound to people who don't share
his intellectual and cultural premises," John L. Allen Jr., a Vatican
analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote after the pope's trip
to Brazil this month.
Benedict's comments came in a speech from the Brazilian shrine town of
Aparecida on the final day of his first visit to the Americas as pope.
He referred to the arrival of European explorers in the 15th century as
an "encounter" between "faith and the indigenous people" of the New
World.
"The proclamation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point
involve an alienation of the pre-Columbus cultures, nor was it the
imposition of a foreign culture," Benedict declared. The people of the
Americas, the pope said, had been "silently longing" for Christ
"without realizing it," and willingly received a Holy Spirit "who came
to make their cultures fruitful, purifying them."
The pope's analysis didn't mention the widely acknowledged violent side
of the conquest, a theme that is at the heart of a resurgent indigenous
movement in Latin America.
Most credible modern accounts of the conquest now include some
reference to the often barbarous treatment that Spanish and Portuguese
overseers inflicted on native populations through colonial times.
"Surely the pope doesn't realize that the representatives of the
Catholic Church of that era, with honorable exceptions, were complicit,
accessories and beneficiaries of one of the more horrible genocides
that humanity has seen," said an Ecuadorean-based association of
Quechua Indians, one of South America's largest indigenous groups.
Benedict previously has recognized the sins of overzealous colonizers,
and his comments in Brazil apparently were intended to celebrate
Christianity as a faith for all humanity. But his manner of expressing
those sentiments caused considerable consternation.
A Peru-based alliance of Andean Indians, in an open letter to Benedict,
wrote that the pope must know that "the so-called evangelization was
violent," adding, "Any cult that wasn't Catholic was persecuted and
cruelly repressed."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called publicly on the pope to
apologize.
"How can he say that the evangelization wasn't imposed if they arrived
here with arms and entered with blood, lead and fire," Chavez asked a
radio and television audience recently. "The bones of the indigenous
martyrs of these lands are still burning."
Animating Chavez's ire, many analysts say, is the fact that Benedict
also singled out for criticism "authoritarian" tendencies, widely
interpreted in Latin America as a broadside at Chavez, a leftist
ex-colonel who has clashed frequently with the Roman Catholic Church
hierarchy and labeled Jesus "the greatest socialist in history."
Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally who is Bolivia's
first indigenous president, said it was time for the church to decide
"whether it was going to pray or make politics."
Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera was among many contrasting
the attitude of Benedict with the words and actions of Benedict's
predecessor, John Paul II, who made a point of meeting with indigenous
representatives during his visits to the region. John Paul II also
recognized abuses suffered by indigenous Americans and by African
slaves abducted and brought to the New World.
"One would like to hear more of the generosity and comprehension of
John Paul II," Garcia Linera remarked after Benedict's departure. "But
at any rate, we remain with the words of John Paul II asking
forgiveness of the indigenous communities."
================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html
List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
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Hash: SHA1
Pope Rat's Lame Half-Apology for Indigenous Remarks
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Pope Rat felt the heat. He's now said that yes,the indigenous
suffered at the hands of European colonial invaders, but still insists
they really wanted to be converted, it's just that they were "silent"
about their desire. So silent they resisted forced conversion and
slavery to the death in many cases. What a schmuck. -NY Transfer]
excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - May 23, 2007
[Pope Benedict XVI issued a partial correction of statements made last
week about the treatment of indigenous peoples by religious
missionaries during the conquest of the Americas. Reuters reports that
Benedict recognize religious colonization entailed "injustices and
sufferings," but maintained that indigenous groups were "silently
longing" for Christianity.-VIO]
Reuters via The Washington Post - May 23, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052300153.html
Pope acknowledges colonial injustices in Americas
By Phil Stewart
Reuters
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict, under fire in Latin America for saying
the Catholic Church had purified Indians, acknowledged on Wednesday
that injustices were committed during the colonialization of the
Americas.
But he stopped short of apologizing as demanded by some leaders,
including Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.
"While we do not overlook the various injustices and sufferings which
accompanied colonization, the Gospel has expressed and continues to
express the identity of the peoples in this region," the Pope said on
Wednesday.
In a speech to Latin American and Caribbean bishops at the end of a
visit to Brazil earlier this month, the Pope said the Church had not
imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
He said they had welcomed the arrival of European priests at the time
of the conquest as they were "silently longing" for Christianity.
Chavez has accused the Pope of ignoring the "holocaust" that followed
Christopher Columbus's landing in the Americas in 1492. Indian leaders
in Brazil have said they were offended by the Pope's "arrogant and
disrespectful" comments.
Millions of tribal Indians are believed to have died as a result of
European colonization backed by the Church, through slaughter, disease
or enslavement.
It was not the first time the German-born Pontiff's comments sparked
controversy.
Benedict infuriated Muslims worldwide in September with a lecture that
seemed to depict Islam as an irrational religion tainted with violence.
He later expressed regret at the pain his comments caused and defused
tensions during a trip to Turkey, where he prayed at a mosque and
called Islam a peaceful faith.
Los Angeles Times - May 23, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pope23may23,1,501618.story
Pope's remarks on conquest denounced
Latin American groups and leaders call his statement a revision of a
history marked by violence and destruction.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
BUENOS AIRES ? Pope Benedict XVI's declaration in Brazil that
colonial-era evangelization in the New World did not represent "the
imposition of a foreign culture" has ignited criticism from indigenous
representatives and the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia.
Indigenous groups from Chile to Mexico have condemned the remarks as a
revision of a history marked by massacres, enslavement and destruction
of native cultures.
For many in Latin America, the incident was reminiscent of provocative
comments the pope made last year about Islam, unleashing a wave of
anger across the Muslim world.
The response this time has been concentrated in the region, but
analysts say the reaction again illustrates the pope's apparent tin ear
for the often provocative content of his discourse.
Despite a keen analytical mind, "Benedict can also be remarkably
tone-deaf to how his pronouncements may sound to people who don't share
his intellectual and cultural premises," John L. Allen Jr., a Vatican
analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote after the pope's trip
to Brazil this month.
Benedict's comments came in a speech from the Brazilian shrine town of
Aparecida on the final day of his first visit to the Americas as pope.
He referred to the arrival of European explorers in the 15th century as
an "encounter" between "faith and the indigenous people" of the New
World.
"The proclamation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point
involve an alienation of the pre-Columbus cultures, nor was it the
imposition of a foreign culture," Benedict declared. The people of the
Americas, the pope said, had been "silently longing" for Christ
"without realizing it," and willingly received a Holy Spirit "who came
to make their cultures fruitful, purifying them."
The pope's analysis didn't mention the widely acknowledged violent side
of the conquest, a theme that is at the heart of a resurgent indigenous
movement in Latin America.
Most credible modern accounts of the conquest now include some
reference to the often barbarous treatment that Spanish and Portuguese
overseers inflicted on native populations through colonial times.
"Surely the pope doesn't realize that the representatives of the
Catholic Church of that era, with honorable exceptions, were complicit,
accessories and beneficiaries of one of the more horrible genocides
that humanity has seen," said an Ecuadorean-based association of
Quechua Indians, one of South America's largest indigenous groups.
Benedict previously has recognized the sins of overzealous colonizers,
and his comments in Brazil apparently were intended to celebrate
Christianity as a faith for all humanity. But his manner of expressing
those sentiments caused considerable consternation.
A Peru-based alliance of Andean Indians, in an open letter to Benedict,
wrote that the pope must know that "the so-called evangelization was
violent," adding, "Any cult that wasn't Catholic was persecuted and
cruelly repressed."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called publicly on the pope to
apologize.
"How can he say that the evangelization wasn't imposed if they arrived
here with arms and entered with blood, lead and fire," Chavez asked a
radio and television audience recently. "The bones of the indigenous
martyrs of these lands are still burning."
Animating Chavez's ire, many analysts say, is the fact that Benedict
also singled out for criticism "authoritarian" tendencies, widely
interpreted in Latin America as a broadside at Chavez, a leftist
ex-colonel who has clashed frequently with the Roman Catholic Church
hierarchy and labeled Jesus "the greatest socialist in history."
Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally who is Bolivia's
first indigenous president, said it was time for the church to decide
"whether it was going to pray or make politics."
Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera was among many contrasting
the attitude of Benedict with the words and actions of Benedict's
predecessor, John Paul II, who made a point of meeting with indigenous
representatives during his visits to the region. John Paul II also
recognized abuses suffered by indigenous Americans and by African
slaves abducted and brought to the New World.
"One would like to hear more of the generosity and comprehension of
John Paul II," Garcia Linera remarked after Benedict's departure. "But
at any rate, we remain with the words of John Paul II asking
forgiveness of the indigenous communities."
================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html
List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
================================================================
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