Bolivia: Gift of ‘Communist crucifix to pope not political

As already its previous predecessor John Paul II., Francis asked the original inhabitants of America for all crimes committed during the colonial period in the name of the Church for forgiveness.

Quoting a fourth century bishop, he called the unfettered pursuit of money “the dung of the devil”, and said poor countries should not be reduced to being providers of raw material and cheap labour for developed countries.

Later, Francis addressed a meeting of grassroots groups.

The first such meeting was held at the Vatican in October. “Land, Lodging, Labor”.

One irony of the situation was that Francis’ fellow countryman, the revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, was executed by CIA-backed Bolivian troops in Bolivia in 1967.

He says consumerism includes a logic in which everything becomes an object that can be consumed and negotiated. The president gave it to Francis because it shows the Church is compatible with the communist fight for the rights of the poor and workers, he said.

Francis’ previous attacks on capitalism have prompted stiff criticism from politicians and commentators in the United States, where he is due to visit in September. In 1971, he was granted the Bolivian nationality, after what he dedicated his life to the under-priviledged populations, while criticizing some conservative positions of the Catholic Church.

Morales came to power championing Bolivia’s 36 indigenous groups and enshrined their rights in the constitution, and under his leadership Bolivia’s economy has boomed thanks to high prices for its natural gas and minerals.

“Let us say no to forms of colonialism old and new”.

He said: “As stewards of these riches which we have received, we have an obligation towards society as a whole and towards future generations”.

Last week, Francis called on European authorities to keep human dignity at the centre of debate for a solution to the economic crisis in Greece. “But where there was sin, and there was plenty of sin, there was also an abundant grace increased by the men who defended indigenous peoples”. “I humbly ask for forgiveness not only for the offences of the church itself, but also for the crimes against native peoples during the so-called conquest of America”.

The links and battles between Communism and the Catholic Church are an extremely sensitive subject in Latin America, the pope’s home continent.

Repeating a few of the breeds of his signpost encyclical “Laudato Si” throughout the surroundings january, Francis said moment in time appeared to be exhausting to save lots of the globe from perhaps ir-reversible harming the…

The scene in Santa Cruz’s Christ the Redeemer plaza was festive, with street-sellers hawking digital watches with the pope’s face on them and indigenous in feathered headdresses mingling with mestizos, or Bolivians of mixed indigenous-Spanish ancestry.

“The goods of the earth are meant for everyone, and however much someone may parade his property, it has a social mortgage”, the Argentine pontiff told a group of civic leaders in Quito’s St Francis Church, the oldest religious building in Latin America.

Among the items on the pope’s agenda while in Bolivia is a trip to the notoriously violent Palmasola prison, where at least 30 inmates were killed in 2013 during gang fighting.