Pope Francis canonised 35 new Roman Catholic saints on Sunday, including three indigenous children martyred in 16th century Mexico and considered the first Christians killed for their faith in the New World.
Francis used the occasion to announce that he had decided to call a meeting of bishops, or synod, from countries in the Pan-Amazon region for October, 2019, to discuss the condition of the Church in the area and the plight of indigenous people.
The three children the pope canonised before a crowd of tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square were of the Talaxcaltec people, an indigenous pre-Colombian group in what is now Mexico.
Pope Francis canonised 35 new Roman Catholic saints on Sunday, including three indigenous children martyred in 16th century Mexico, considered the first Christians killed for their faith in the New World
The region includes Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil.
The first child, Cristoforo, was converted to Christianity by Franciscan missionaries and was killed in 1527 by his own father, a tribal chief who spurned his son’s attempts to convert him from paganism.
The boy was beaten and thrown into a fire when he was 13.
Two other indigenous children from the same area, Antonio and Juan, were killed by Indios in the village of Cuauhtinchan in 1529 as a result of their conversion. They are believed to have been 12 or 13 when they were beaten to death for helping Dominican missionaries.
The three children the pope canonised before a crowd of tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square were of the Talaxcaltec people, an indigenous pre-Colombian group in what is now Mexico
The pope also canonised 30 martyrs who were killed for their faith in Brazil in 1645. They included two Portuguese missionaries and 28 followers killed by Dutch colonial soldiers during a period of persecution of Catholics.
In announcing the 2019 synod for bishops from the Amazon region, Francis said indigenous people there today were ‘often abandoned and without the prospect of a bright future, even due to the crisis of the Amazon Forest, a lung of utmost importance for our planet’.
Francis, an Argentine and the first Latin American pope, has often linked his calls for social justice, particularly for indigenous people, to those for defence of the environment, saying the poor will suffer the most from the effects of climate change.
In 2015 he wrote a landmark encyclical, or papal letter, on defence of the environment and he has called for special protection for the Amazon region because of its vital importance to the planet’s ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the Pope issued a stark warning against the dangers of the devil and the evils that ‘worldliness’ brings
In his comments on Sunday, the pope did not mention the role of the Church in suppressing native cultures in the New World.
But during a visit to Bolivia in 2015, Francis said ‘many grave sins were committed against the native people of America in the name of God’. He asked forgiveness for the Church, for ‘crimes committed against native peoples during the so-called conquest of America’.
On Sunday, Francis also canonised Father Faustino Miguez, a Spanish priest who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Father Angelo d’Acri, an Italian itinerant preacher who died in 1739 after serving in some of the most remote areas of mountainous southern Italy.
Meanwhile, the Pope issued a stark warning against the dangers of the devil and the evils that ‘worldliness’ brings.
In an interview with Vatican Radio, he urged Christians to beware demons entering ‘quietly’ leading people to worldliness over religion.
Equating worldliness to straying from the path of righteousness, the Pope emphasised the way demons move stealthily to invade and corrupt people slowly, undermining Christianity.
Reporters at Townhall.com appeared to paraphrase the Pope’s words on the VaticanRadio, writing: ‘The Pope said the Lord asks us be watchful in order not to enter into temptation.
‘This is why a Christians have to be awake, watchful and careful like a sentinel.
Reporters at Townhall. com appeared to paraphrase the Pope’s words on the VaticanRadio, writing: ‘The Pope said the Lord asks us be watchful in order not to enter into temptation
‘Jesus was not narrating a parable but was stating a truth, i.e when the unclean spirit comes out of a man, he roams about in abandoned places looking for refuge and not finding any, decides to return to where he came from, where the freed man lives.
‘Hence the demon decides to bring in ‘seven other spirits worse than him.”
Pope Francis is understood to have emphasised the fact that the demons enter into man quietly, corrupting him slowly.
Paraphrasing, they said: ‘The devil slowly changes our criteria to lead us to worldliness. It camouflages our way of acting, which we hardly notice. And so, the man, freed from the demon, becomes a bad man, a man burdened by worldliness. And that’s exactly what the devil wants – worldliness, the Pope stressed.’
Adding: ‘It means stopping for a while to examine my life, whether I am a Christian, whether I educate my children, whether my life is Christian or worldly?’
Pope Francis has divided the Christian population with some viewing him as a reformer and others too liberal
Equating worldliness to straying from the path of righteousness, the Pope emphasised the way demons move stealthily to invade and corrupt people slowly, undermining Christianity
Pope Francis has divided the Christian population with some viewing him as a reformer and other’s as leaning too far away from traditional Christian values.
Advocating open borders and a sympathetic view towards immigration, the Pope has been the target of criticism from Conservative and right leaning thinkers who accuse the 80-year-old of being too liberal.
However, Pope Francis also hit out at Donald Trump for not being pro-life enough thanks to his stance on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The Pope said: ‘The President of the United States presents himself as pro-life and if he is a good pro-lifer, he understands that family is the cradle of life and its unity must be protected,’
Pope Francis also hit out at Donald Trump for not being pro-life enough thanks to his stance on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program
The Pope said: ‘The President of the United States presents himself as pro-life and if he is a good pro-lifer, he understands that family is the cradle of life and its unity must be protected,’
Advocating open borders and a sympathetic view towards immigration, the Pope has been the target of criticism from Conservative and right leaning thinkers who accuse the 80-year-old of being too liberal