OMF’nG. This pope is one loose cannon. Apparently he really believes that the Catholic Church did natives a favor in South America in the past:
“In a speech to Latin American and Caribbean bishops at the end of a visit to Brazil, the Pope said the Church had not imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas. They had welcomed the arrival of European priests at the time of the conquest as they were “silently longing” for Christianity, he said.”
Not imposed itself. Huh.
Not surprisingly, the reaction from Indigenous leaders was outrage:
“‘It’s arrogant and disrespectful to consider our cultural heritage secondary to theirs,” said Jecinaldo Satere Mawe, chief coordinator of the Amazon Indian group Coiab….”We repudiate the Pope’s comments,” Tuxa said. “To say the cultural decimation of our people represents a purification is offensive, and frankly, frightening.“
Now, I’m sure it’s no shock that the pope and I have a few little disagreements. (ok, some giant glaring disagreements.) But this is just over the top. Genocide and oppression as “purification” ??
There are very few religions that don’t have something to apologize for. (Ok, the excesses of the Unitarian Universalists seem to mostly be forced consumption of stale baked goods, and Buddhists seem to mostly be guilty of producing copious amounts of ponderous prose puzzles that make your head hurt.)
My point is, Everyone’s got something to apologize for. But not acknowledging the culpability of the Catholic Church in slavery and murder in the New World is criminal.
Can’t wait to see what Pope Rotweiller says next about the Spanish Inquisition. Maybe his version really will include a comfy chair!
"Pope Rottweiller" HA!
Whatever he says about the Spanish Inquisition, no doubt it will be unexpected.
Oh, damn! I missed that one.
Geez, you alluded to Monty Python on a nerdy forum? You know that's opening up a big ol' can of worms (okay, spam)!
And my pet rottweiler, Claudia, resents your comparison!
In defense of the Pope: He truly believes what he said. And as Tuxa noted, that's frightening.
Also note that the Catholic advocacy group in Brazil even criticized the pope's comments.
Wow… but, then, getting the Catholic church to even admit that might have done something that some might not agree with is astounding. Even if it was immediately followed by "but it wasn't bad at all, see??"
Maybe in a few hundred years, they can start to see that maybe mistreating people who don't agree with you is bad. Maybe.
No promises.
I have a heard a lot of apologists say that his time in the hitler youth was more a matter of pragmatism because of the time and place rather than an actual desire by him to be a member. However, when I see statements like this one, it does give me pause to think that perhaps he was not such a reluctant member after all if he can say such a thing and really mean it. Either that or senility has already taken over. I suppose the only benefit is that it only serves to show how even more out of touch with reality the pope and his cohorts are.