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Pope Francis elevated to sainthood an 18th-century missionary Wednesday, a historic ceremony that was nevertheless rife with controversy.
Junipero Serra, a Franciscan friar who marched north from Baja with conquistadors from his native Spain, established nine of the 21 missions in what is now California. He became the first person to be canonized on US soil, during a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the *Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
The service at the largest Catholic church in North America was attended by more than 25,000 people, including presidential hopeful Jeb Bush and his wife, Columba.
But while Serra is revered for his influential work, and Latinos have lauded the pope for canonizing the first Hispanic saint, some Native Americans have accused Serra of abusing converts and spreading diseases that decimated indigenous populations.
Native American groups held a silent protest at the site of Serra’s burial, Carmel Mission in California, during the canonization ceremony.
At the Mass, which was performed in Spanish, Francis defended Serra, calling him the “embodiment of a Church which goes forth, a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling tenderness of God.”
“Junipero sought to defend the dignity of the Native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated it and abused it,” Francis said in his homily. “Mistreatment and wrongs which today still trouble us, especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.”
Junipero Serra, a Franciscan friar who marched north from Baja with conquistadors from his native Spain, established nine of the 21 missions in what is now California. He became the first person to be canonized on US soil, during a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the *Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
The service at the largest Catholic church in North America was attended by more than 25,000 people, including presidential hopeful Jeb Bush and his wife, Columba.
But while Serra is revered for his influential work, and Latinos have lauded the pope for canonizing the first Hispanic saint, some Native Americans have accused Serra of abusing converts and spreading diseases that decimated indigenous populations.
Native American groups held a silent protest at the site of Serra’s burial, Carmel Mission in California, during the canonization ceremony.
At the Mass, which was performed in Spanish, Francis defended Serra, calling him the “embodiment of a Church which goes forth, a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling tenderness of God.”
“Junipero sought to defend the dignity of the Native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated it and abused it,” Francis said in his homily. “Mistreatment and wrongs which today still trouble us, especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.”
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