Indigenous Catholics: Hopes the next pope shares Francis’ approach to Native people
MARÍA VERZA, of Associated Press, reports that while some feel Francis could have done more, Indigenous Catholics widely praise him for championing their causes, asking forgiveness for the church’s historical wrongs, and allowing them to incorporate aspects of their Native cultures into practicing their faith…
Indigenous leader in Peru says illegal miners use children as ‘human shields’ in the Amazon
Lima, Peru Reuters The leader of an Indigenous community in Peru asked for the government to declare a state of emergency on Monday and accused illegal miners of using children as “human shields” in the Amazon. He will ask the Peruvian Government to declare a state of emergency in the area to allow the eviction […]
Essay: First Nations people are three times more likely to die on the road. Here’s how to fix Australia’s transport injustice
In an article first published on The Conversation, GINA MASTERTON, MILAD HAGHANI and TERESA SENSERRICK look at the issue of road safety inequity in Australia and what can be done to address it…
Investigation finds at least 973 Native American children died in US Government boarding schools
Billings, Montana, US AP At least 973 Native American children died in the US Government’s abusive boarding school system, according to the results of an investigation released Tuesday by Interior Department officials who called on the government to apologise for the schools. The investigation commissioned by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland found marked and unmarked graves at […]
Indigenous people protest Brazil not protecting ancestral lands
Brasilia, Brazil Reuters Several thousand Indigenous demonstrators marched chanting to drum beats on Thursday to the seat of power in Brazil’s capital to protest against the government’s failure to protect their ancestral lands. The annual event this year focused Indigenous anger over plans to build a railway to transport grain from farm states to Amazon […]
US Lutherans launch initiative joining Indigenous-led Truth and Healing Movement
RNS The head of the country’s largest Lutheran denomination announced on Wednesday the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is launching its own Truth and Healing Movement to help its three million members better understand the “colonising impacts” the church has had on Indigenous people, both past and present. “We must be in better, right, and healthy relationships […]
Responding to Indigenous, Vatican rejects Discovery Doctrine
Vatican City AP The Vatican on Thursday responded to Indigenous demands and formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery”, the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimised the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property laws today. A Vatican statement said the papal bulls, or decrees, “did not adequately reflect […]
Pope concerned for Amazon and Indigenous peoples, says its first cardinal
Manaus, Brazil Reuters Pope Francis will install the first cardinal of Brazil’s Amazon region this month in a sign of his concern for the rainforest and its Indigenous inhabitants, the man whom he picked for the role said. Dom Leonardo Steiner, Archbishop of the Brazilian city of Manaus, said in an interview that Francis, the […]
Storm Eta damage pushes small, Indigenous farmers in Central America into hunger
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation Ruben Garcia not long ago had small herds of cattle and fields bursting with crops, and now the Indigenous farmer in northern Nicaragua lies awake worrying how long it will be before he and his neighbors run out of food. The wooden homes and tiny farms of the Indigenous Miskito community […]
California bishops say protesters “failed the test” of history in toppling Junipero Serra statues
Los Angeles, USRNS The California Catholic Conference of Bishops is denouncing the toppling of Junipero Serra statues that protesters took down in San Francisco and Los Angeles over the weekend. “If this process is to be truly effective as a remedy for racism, it must discern carefully the entire contribution that the historical figure in […]