Pope Francis lamented the “terrifying impact of colonization” at his home on Tuesday during a ceremony at Lake Santa Ana in the Canadian province of Alberta, a place of pilgrimage for the country’s Catholic believers. Holy place for the native people.
Francis arrived in Canada last Sunday to apologize to Indigenous people, as he finally did in his first act on Monday Abuse suffered in boarding schools The so-called “assimilation processes” were organized for and many of them were managed by the Catholic Church.
This Tuesday he went to the lake, a sacred place for Native peoples, where a Catholic mission arose and which is pilgrimage site for thousands of believers Those who bathe in its waters as a ritual to ensure that they have miraculous properties.
“In this blessed place, where harmony and peace reign, we present to you the anomalies of our history, Terrible effects of colonization, indelible pain For so many families, parents, grandparents and children,” Francis said in Spanish.
heal wounds
“Help us heal our wounds. We know it is necessary to Effort, Care and Solid Facts From us. But we also know that we cannot do it alone. We entrust ourselves to the intercession of you and your mother and grandmother,” the Pope said.
For this reason, on the day of Saint Anne, the mother of Mary and the grandmother of Jesus, Francis asked the grandmothers to help heal the wounds that had arisen in these Marginal years.
“Yes, because mother and grandmother help heal the wounds of the heart. In the meantime victory play, It was Our Lady of Guadalupe who transmitted the honest faith to the indigenous people without violence and without accusation, speaking their language and wearing their costumes”.
role of missionaries
Although Francis admits to the evil committed by many men of the Church during the colonization of America this Tuesday highlight the good Which was done by many missionaries.
“And soon after, with the advent of the printing press, First Grammar and Catechism in Indigenous Languages. What a great job the missionaries have done in this regard, preaching authentically to preserve indigenous languages and cultures in many parts of the world!
But he lamented that “part of painful legacy that we are facing stems from preventing Indigenous grandmothers from transmitting their faith in their language and culture” and recognized that “this loss is certainly a tragedy”.
