VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is mounting a campaign to defend an
18th century Franciscan missionary who will be canonized by Pope Francis
in the U.S. against protests from Native Americans who have compared
his conversion of natives to genocide.
The Vatican is teaming up
with the archdiocese of Los Angeles and the main U.S. seminary in Rome
to host a daylong celebration May 2 at the North American College to
honor the Rev. Junipero Serra, who introduced Christianity to much of
California as he marched north with Spanish conquistadors. Francis will
celebrate Mass in his honor.
For the church, Serra was a great
evangelizer and a model for today's Hispanics. Many Native Americans,
though, say Serra helped wipe out native populations, enslaved converts
and spread disease as he brutally imposed Christianity on them. They
have staged protests in California and there is a move to remove his
statue from the U.S. Capitol.
Vatican officials on Monday defended Serra's record, saying it shows
he worked in defense of Native Americans, often intervening to spare
them from the more brutal colonial officials.
The Rev. Vincenzo
Criscuolo, a Franciscan at the Vatican's saint-making office, said it
was important to look at Serra as "a man of his time" who, like many
others at the time used corporal punishment as an educational tool.
"It is not to be excluded, but it wasn't 'genocide,' it wasn't a death penalty," he told reporters.
Guzmán
Carriquiry, the No. 2 of the pontifical commission for Latin America
and a friend of the pope's, denounced plans to remove Serra's statue
from Congress' National Statuary Hall, noting that he's the only person
of Spanish descent in the collection.
"They want to remove him
from the Capitol precisely when the first Hispanic pope is planning to
canonize him. Let's say that it would not be an extraordinary welcome
from a country that claims to be an example of multicultural welcomes,"
Carriquiry said.
Francis is due to canonize Serra on Sept. 23 at the National Shrine in Washington at the start of his U.S. trip.
Francis
clearly wanted the canonization, even though the Vatican never
confirmed a second miracle attributed to Serra's intercession. Criscuolo
revealed that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints hasn't even
officially approved the canonization, but that at this point "it is
difficult that the cardinals and bishops might say 'no'" given that
Francis announced he would make him a saint back in January.
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