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News > Latin America

Pope Urges Chile Govt to 'Preserve' and 'Listen to' Indigenous Groups

  • Pope Francis arrives to leads a mass at the O'Higgins Park in Santiago, Chile, January 16, 2018.

    Pope Francis arrives to leads a mass at the O'Higgins Park in Santiago, Chile, January 16, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Published 16 January 2018
Opinion

"From them (native peoples) we can learn that a people that turns its back on the land, and everything and everyone on it, will never experience real development," he said.

After his arrival in Chile on Monday amid protests from several sectors including the Indigenous people, Pope Francis delivered a speech addressing Chile's president, Michelle Bachelet, government representatives and lawmakers. He highlighted the need to preserve "ethnic, cultural and historical diversity from all partisan spirit or attempts at domination" stressing on "the wisdom of the native peoples" to steer away from "a merely consumerist view of life."

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"From them (native peoples) we can learn that a people that turns its back on the land, and everything and everyone on it, will never experience real development. Chile’s possesses a deep-rooted wisdom capable of helping to transcend a merely consumerist view of life," he said. 

The Argentina-born pontiff also reminisced about his early days spent in the region.

"It is a joy for me to stand once again on Latin American soil and begin this visit to Chile, this land so close to my heart, which welcomed and schooled me in my younger years," Pope said.  

In his address, the Pope urged the government authorities to adopt "a distinctive way of looking at things, a way of thinking, policies, an educational program, a lifestyle and a spirituality which together generate resistance to the assault of the technocratic paradigm." 

Since 2000, nearly 80 members of the Chilean clergy have been accused of sexual abuse of minors, with more than half of the accused convicted by a Vatican court.

Demonstrators take cover from a riot police water canon during a protest against papal visit in Santiago, Chile, January 16, 2018. REUTERS

Addressing the issue, pontiff expressed "pain" and "shame" at the "irreparable damage caused to children by some ministers of the Church."

He said there's a need to "make every effort to support the victims, even as we commit ourselves to ensuring that such things do not happen again." 

However, in 2015, the pontiff appointed a protege of a priest who had been accused of child molestation, Bishop Juan Barros, in the southern city of Osorno. 

"Sex abuse is Pope Francis' weakest spot in terms of his credibility," Massimo Faggioli, a Vatican expert and theology professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia, told NBC news ahead of the visit. "It is surprising that the pope and his entourage don't understand that they need to be more forthcoming on this issue." 

People hold banners reading "Neither lefties nor fools, Osorno suffers, Bishop Barros, accessory after the fact," during a protest, as Pope Francis visits the La Moneda Presidential Palace in Santiago, Chile January 16, 2018. REUTERS

Workers' Socialist Front's Felipe Morales said, "The role of the church has been nefarious," said Morales. "Sex abuse cases have been covered up, and people are unhappy with many other issues," NBC News reported. 

Pope also emphasized on the need to "listen" to the native and other marginalized communities in order to understand the core issues. "We cannot abandon them," he said. "To listen to the native peoples, often forgotten, whose rights and culture need to be protected lest that part of this nation’s identity and richness be lost."  

The pontiff will hold an open-air mass in a Santiago city park on Tuesday. During his three-day visit, the Pope Francis will remain in Chile, where he will meet with survivors of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). 

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