Yahoo – AFP,
Kelly Velasquez, Moises Avila, 10 July 2015
Santa Cruz
de la Sierra (Bolivia) (AFP) - Pope Francis, in a historic gesture of
reconciliation, sought forgiveness Thursday from Bolivia's predominantly
indigenous inhabitants for crimes committed centuries earlier in the name of
the Catholic Church.
The
Argentine-born pope, who has never been afraid to weigh into delicate issues
both religious and political, made the comments on the second stop of a
three-nation Latin America homecoming tour.
 |
Pope
Francis arrives at the square of Christ
the Redeemer in Santa Cruz, Bolivia to
officiate a holy mass on July 9, 2015
(AFP Photo/Aizar Raldes Nunez)
|
"I
want to tell you, and I want to be very clear: I humbly ask your forgiveness,
not only for the offenses committed by our own church, but for the crimes
committed by original inhabitants during the so-called conquest of
America," Francis told a gathering of social activists, to sustained and
enthusiastic applause.
"There
have been many, very serious crimes committed again the native peoples of
America in the name of God," the pontiff said, in what was, to date, one
of the most powerful and moving moments of his weeklong South America visit.
His apology
for colonial era crimes against the indigenous people of America was offered at
a so-called World Meeting of the Popular Movements in the city of Santa Cruz.
All three
of the countries Francis is visiting during this tour -- Ecuador, Bolivia and
Paraguay -- are predominantly Catholic and have been marked by a long history
of poverty and inequality mostly afflicting indigenous populations.
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.
Millions of
people were killed by disease and millions more from a brutal system of forced
labor that led to the destruction of their indigenous lands and their way of
life.
One
million faithful
Earlier on
Thursday, Francis called on a million faithful to reject today's consumer
society, at an open-air mass in the vast Christ the Redeemer Plaza in Santa
Cruz, where many people had camped out overnight to see him.
 |
Hundreds of
indigenous representatives gathered to greet Pope Francis
and Bolivia's
President Evo Morales finalizing the Second World Meeting
of the Popular Movements
in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on July 9, 2015 (AFP
Photo/Lesly Moyano)
|
He also
urged Bolivians against discarding the weakest and most vulnerable members of
society, including the poor, voiceless and the disenfranchised.
He
denounced what he called a "mentality in which everything has a price,
everything can be bought, everything is negotiable. This way of thinking has
room only for a select few," the 78-year-old told the crowd, estimated by
authorities in Bolivia -- South America's poorest nation -- at one million
strong.
The
two-hour service featured religious hymns and chants. Hundreds of musicians
also played Baroque works, introduced by Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the
18th century and still very popular in this country.
Thousands
in the crowd were from Bolivia's indigenous majority and President Evo Morales,
the country's first indigenous leader, was in the front row.
Around the
plaza, dominated by the giant bronze Christ the Redeemer statue, big-screen TVs
were erected for people to watch the religious service.
'As close
as possible'
Since his
election in 2013, Francis -- who hails from Argentina and is also the first
Jesuit pope -- has cut a down-to-earth figure, which is going down well in
Santa Cruz.
"We
want to be as close as possible to receive the blessings that he is going to
bestow," said one of the campers who waited overnight to see the pope,
Nancy Camacho, her head wrapped in a thick scarf.
Francis
arrived in Bolivia on Wednesday evening in the high-altitude Andean city of La
Paz -- more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level.
 |
Pope
Francis waves goodbye as he prepares to depart Viru Viru airport in
Santa Cruz,
Bolivia, Friday, July 10, 2015. The pope is departing for Paraguay,
as part of
his three-nation tour of South America. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
|
Concerned
authorities had extra oxygen tanks on hand for the pope, who lost a lung during
his youth, but he was not seen using it.
Francis has
impressed people with his stamina as he walked amid crowds, kissed people and
took selfies. Some of the journalists traveling with him had to stop and take a
shot of oxygen.
Bolivia is
destitute -- the minimum monthly wage is equivalent to about $240 a month --
but has made economic progress in recent years.
Alcohol
sales and musical performances have been banned throughout the country during
the pope's visit, and 17,000 police and soldiers have been deployed.
On Friday,
Francis visits Bolivia's most notorious and dangerous prison, continuing his
focus on the plight of the poor, the forgotten and the marginalized.
He will
then head to Paraguay, the last stop on his tour of South America, which began
in Ecuador.
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“… Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic
Service. Twenty-five years ago, I discussed with you what is happening now.
Back then, it was only a potential, but now it's your reality. This was not
prophecy when I told you back then that there would be no Armageddon or World
War Three. It was not prophecy, but a powerful potential. The entire reason for
my being and the awakening of my partner was because of what you did. The
victory it contains falls in the lap of the old soul, who has controlled the
consciousness of the timing of it all.
Everything
that has transpired during these years has been realized potential. That is to
say that we see the potentials of what you might do, and report on that and
only that. Much of what we see now is realized quickly. When we told you in 2012 there would be a new pope, 13 months later it happened. This was not
prophecy, but rather a potential. We saw it coming because we have the overview
and we knew of the anxiety of the existing pope, the health of the man, and we
also knew of the potentials of a South American pope to come forward. All of
these things should be a "connect the dots" for you. I come yet
again, not with prophecy, but with information given with a congratulatory
attitude of potential. …”
