SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Pope Francis’ apology for the Roman Catholic Church’s crimes against indigenous peoples has not softened opposition among some California Native Americans to his decision to canonize 18th-century Franciscan missionary Junipero Serra.
Serra is extolled by the Vatican as a great evangelizer, but denounced by some tribal officials as a destroyer of Native culture.
Francis made a sweeping apology for the church’s sins and “crimes” against indigenous peoples during a visit to Bolivia in July, “humbly” begging forgiveness in the presence of Bolivia’s first-ever indigenous president and representatives of native groups from across South America, who wildly cheered the pope and said they accepted the apology.
But Ron Andrade, a member of the La Jolla Indian Reservation, said the pope’s apology is not a real reckoning with the church’s history of abusing Native Americans and appears intended to seek forgiveness and move on.
Norma Flores, a spokeswoman for the Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians, Kizh Nation, said the pope’s apology is meaningless if he doesn’t halt the canonization of Serra on Sept. 23 at Washington’s National Shrine.