Oh dear, Benedict

I must admit that I don’t take a huge amount of notice of papal peregrinations so a speech made by the Pontiff last Sunday at the end of a visit to Brazil passed me by. Speaking at a conference of Latin American bishops in the shrine city of Aparecida Pope Benedict, unsurprisingly, denounced Marxism and unfettered capitalism.

What was surprising, perhaps, was his assertion that the Indians of Latin America had welcomed the arrival of arrival of European priests at the time of the conquest as they were "silently longing" for Christianity... "In effect, the proclamation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre-Columbus cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture," he told the bishops.

Needless to say Brazilian Indians were less than impressed by the pontiff’s comments: "The state used the Church to do the dirty work in colonizing the Indians but they already asked forgiveness for that ... so is the Pope taking back the Church's word?" said Dionito Jose de Souza a leader of the Makuxi tribe in northern Roraima state. (Pope John Paul II had spoken in 1992 of mistakes in the evangelization of native peoples of the Americas).

Even Cimi, the Church's Indian advocacy group in Brazil distanced itself from the Pope. "The Pope doesn't understand the reality of the Indians here, his statement was wrong and indefensible," Cimi advisor Father Paulo Suess said. "I too was upset."

To be honest, I’m not sure why I should be surprised by such comments – popes tend to be just a little authoritarian in their world view and will generally wish to promote the positive aspects of Catholicism (I’m sure line one of the Pope’s job description is “promote Catholicism”... ). If I hadn’t parted company with the Church as a teen I would be shaking my head in embarrassment and disbelief. Now I look at such comments and just shake my head