Pope's foot in mouth disease

Solipsism personified.

Tribal Indians condemn pope

Indian leaders in Brazil have reacted angrily to comments by Pope Benedict that they had been purified by the Roman Catholic church since Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492.

In a speech to bishops at the end of a visit to Brazil on Sunday, Benedict said indigenous people of the Americas had welcomed European priests after conquest.

"It's arrogant and disrespectful to consider our cultural heritage secondary to theirs," said Jecinaldo Satere Mawe, chief co-ordinator of Coiab, an Amazon Indian group.

The pope had said the peoples of the Americas had a "silent longing" for Christianity and welcomed European priests' arrival.

He said the church had not imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Colonisation
Since Colombus's landing, millions of tribal Indians are believed to have died as a result of European colonisation backed by the Roman Catholic church through murder, disease or enslavement.

Many Indians today struggle for survival, stripped of their traditional ways of life and excluded from society.

Indian groups sent a letter to Benedict last week asking for support in defending their ancestral lands and culture.

The letter said the Indians had suffered a "process of genocide" since the first European colonisers had arrived.

Priests blessed conquistadors as they waged war on tribal Indians.

'Poorly advised'
Other tribal leaders also voiced their criticism on Monday.

Dionito Jose de Souza, a leader of the Makuxi tribe in northern Roraima state, said: "The state used the church to do the dirty work in colonising the Indians but they already asked forgiveness for that ... so is the pope taking back the church's word?"

Pope John Paul II spoke in 1992 of mistakes in the evangelisation of native peoples of the Americas.

"We repudiate the [pope's] comments," said Sandro Tuxa, leader of the movement of northeastern tribes.

"To say the cultural decimation of our people represents a purification is offensive, and frankly, frightening.

"I think [the pope] has been poorly advised."

The Roman Catholic church's own Indian advocacy group in Brazil also criticised Benedict's speech.

Paulo Suess, the advocacy group's adviser, said: "The pope doesn't understand the reality of the Indians here, his statement was wrong and indefensible."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D809D115-1128-4092-9BA6-30F716C56052.htm

Really? I've followed the man for years. Our opinions may differ.

That's a little like saying it's all right for Hitler to condemn Jews because what would you expect of him, he's a Nazi after all. Benedict really shows a profound ignorance of the history of the Americas when he says that. The church really was a part of genocide and cultural genocide, forced conversions, forced labor, and collusion with oligarchies that monopolized all resources for the benefit of the few. The Spanish, the Portugese, the English, the French all behaved shamefully. To say that the indigenous peoples had a silent longing for that forced conversion is a supremely silly statement. I find it offensive that someone would try to whitewash what went on, and I'm not indigenous, just trained as an Americanist.

If you think The Pope an ass, leave the Catholic church because he, and not you, is the Holy See.

xingu.....

The Catholic Church is not a democracy.
The Pope was not elected by the people

The Pope is the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church. His edicts, proclaimations, etc are not up to debate.
The Pope represents Christ on earth, not the people.

If a person feels they are are devote Catholic, they may very well not agree personally with the Pope, but they are bound to obey him.

Based on a quick Google, here are THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POPE

Those who so disagree with the Pope have gone out and splintered from the Catholic Church, or left completely.

Otherwise, one submits to the will of the Church.

However, the notion that a Catholic who does try to live by the laws of the church is not in a position to ignore or pick and choose which proclaimations of the the pope he/she agrees with and would like to follow.

Chai wrote:

However, the notion that a Catholic who does try to live by the laws of the church is not in a position to ignore or pick and choose which proclaimations of the the pope he/she agrees with and would like to follow.

Not true.

But Papal Encyclicals, even when they are not ex cathedra, can nonetheless be sufficiently authoritative to end theological debate on a particular question.

Otherwsie, only Papal dogmata are 'law'.