Pope Francis Apologizes to Indigenous Peoples for ‘Grave Sins’ of Colonialism

Morales, a prominent member of South America’s leftist bloc and one of the region’s most popular leaders, told Reuters in an interview he had sought a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama but had not received a response.

Francis said such cowardice is “a grave sin”.

Repeating some of the environmental themes of his landmark encyclical Laudato Si, released last month, the Pope said time was running out to save the planet from perhaps irreversible harm to the ecosystem.

“Those words of Jesus have a particular resonance for us today”, the pope said. The future “is fundamentally in the hands of peoples and in their ability to organise”.

The pope is using his visit to Latin American countries to highlight the problems of the indigenous communities and to advise against “all totalitarian, ideological or sectarian schemes”, The Guardian wrote.

He also recalled that, during a visit to the Dominican Republic in 1992, Pope John Paul II had apologised for the “pain and suffering” over the hundreds of years since the Church arrived at American shores.

Beginning in the 1500s, Spanish conquerors, with the blessing of the Church, subjugated and enslaved indigenous peoples in the Americas, annihilating native cultures and forcing their conversion to Christianity.

He continued: “I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America”.

“We are not isolated individuals, separated from one another, but rather a people of remembrance, a remembrance ever renewed and ever shared with others”, Francis said.

His speech was preceded by lengthy remarks from Morales, who wore a jacket adorned with the face of Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who was executed in Bolivia in 1967 by CIA-backed Bolivian troops. “An identity which here, as in other countries, some powers are committed to erasing”, Francis said.

Starting his speech with the need to instigate change, he called on the faithful to fight to protect human dignity in a “system” where farm workers end up without land or home and laborers without rights.

The Pope travels to Paraguay on 10 July, the third and final stop of his tour of South America. The government set up jumbo screens along the roads for those unable to get close to the papal altar, even though they had camped out.

Bolivia’s deputy minister for coordination with social movements says the Guarani would have been welcome had they actively sought participation. “May the cry of the excluded be heard in Latin America and throughout the world“.

The first such meeting was held at the Vatican in October.

Prominent, too, are delegates from CONAMAQ, Bolivia’s main highlands indigenous organization, representing the dominant Quechua and Aymara ethnicities.

The 78-year-old asked for a coca leaf tea in between his flight to Ecuador and Bolivia on Wednesday.

But, as Morales explained, the cross was created by Jesuit Father Luis Espinal, who was assassinated in 1980 after being active in the country’s pro-democracy movement. On Wednesday night, Pope Francis stopped his popemobile from the airport to pray at the location where Espinal’s dead body was discovered. According to some accounts, the pontiff said, “No está bien eso” [This is not ok], while Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Pope was more likely to have responded “eso no sabía bien”, [I didn’t know that], about the origin of the present.

Mexican Bishop Raul Vera, who said the church was passive in the enslavement of the continent by the Spanish, said Francis’ apology was especially moving given the setting and circumstances.

Francis plans to rest briefly after the visit then head to the presidential palace to meet with President Horacio Cartes.

Ostreicher said he doubted the pope would be shown the section of the prison where the penniless are “wasting away”, forced to sleep in the open and scrounge for food in garbage containers.