The Vatican announced on May 6 that Pope Francis has approved the decision to canonize Junipero Serra as a “saint”. This move is viewed by many Native Americans and others as approval of Spanish colonialism and the mistreatment of Native Americans. Francis should give this further thought before proceeding.
And California politicians are part of the problem. Each state is allowed two statues in the US capitol. Theirs until rather recently were those of missionary Junipero Serra and Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King, who was credited by Abraham Lincoln for keeping California in the Union during the Civil War. But when California politicians decided to put Ronald Reagan’s statue in the capitol, they removed the one of Starr King and left the one of Serra, who never lived in the US and who died before California was even part of the US.
All this seems to be part of an Orwellian “selective manipulation of history”. Shame. Americans should speak out on this.
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