?The Pope’s request for July on his Worldwide Prayer Network – Respect for indigenous peoples
Pope Francis became “a spokesman for the deepest
longings of indigenous peoples” in the message disseminated in recent days on
his Worldwide Prayer Network, the
Apostleship of Prayer (www.apmej.org). Speaking in Spanish – the video is
available with subtitles in six languages at www.thepopevideo.org – the Pope
said that his universal prayer intention for the month of July is respect for
those populations whose origins in a particular place date back to prehistoric
times. “I want you to add your voice to mine”, the Pope urges, while images
move across the screen displaying the faces of men and women from different
ethnic groups in traditional dress, “in a heartfelt prayer that all will
respect indigenous peoples, threatened in their identity and even in their
existence”.
The video
message for July on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network was inspired by the
speech St. John Paul II addressed to indigenous people at
the Latacunga airport in Ecuador on 31 January 1985. It was an important part
of his apostolic journey, which, 30 years ago, took him to Venezuela, Ecuador,
Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago from 26 January to 5 February. On that occasion
Pope Wojty?a told the
indigenous people that he wanted to be “a spokesman for” their “deepest
longings”. Pope Francis revived those words in the days marking the first
anniversary of his trip to Latin America, during which he travelled to Ecuador,
Bolivia and Paraguay from 5 to 12 July 2015.
In each of these three countries, the first Latin
American Pope spent time meeting with indigenous peoples, and the liturgies
celebrated there contained elements of native languages, arts and cultures,
such as Quechua or Guarani. In particular, while participating in the Second
Meeting of World Popular Movements, held at the Expo Feria Exhibition Centre in
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, on Thursday, 9 July 2015, Pope Francis quoted
his predecessor’s specific request for forgiveness. “I wish to be
quite clear, as was Saint John Paul II:
I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offences of the Church herself, but
also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called
conquest of America”.