The hammer-and-sickle crucifix, on the other hand, illustrates the result of secular humanist philosophy: an innocent man, crucified on an altar of human progress-just like the 94 million victims of Marxist humanism. He received them with open arms and then gave them blessings.
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“There have been many, very serious crimes committed again the native peoples of America in the name of God”, the pontiff said, in what was, to date, one of the most powerful and moving moments of his weeklong South America visit.
Despite his condemnation of global economic system, however, Francis said he did not have a solution to it.
Top Story – Pope Francis publicly apologized on Thursday for the abuses committed by the Catholic Church against the indigenous populations of the Americas during the colonial period, using stronger language than any other pope to date.
“That cry for liberty… did not lack conviction or force, but history tells us that it was only convincing when personalism, the desire for single leaderships, were put aside”, Francis said.
He also said that Bolivia is at a “historic crossroads” and urged political, religious and cultural leaders to work together.
Elsewhere in the speech-described as the longest and most important of Francis’ three-nation South American trip-the Pope also spoke boldly about the global need to move swiftly away from policies that are generating mass poverty, unparalleled inequality, and suffering around the world.
Bolivian President Evo Morales yesterday said he wanted to restore full diplomatic relations with the USA but doubted this would happen soon, even after the recent rapprochement between Washington and ex- Cold War enemy Cuba.
“It’s the lifers who control the prison”, said Ostreicher.
The pope was flying to high-altitude La Paz, Bolivia, where oxygen tanks are kept at the airport for arriving passengers who may struggle with the thin air.
The first such meeting was held at the Vatican in October.
“We’re used to the creative originality of President Morales”, said Eugenio Coter, from the Church’s Bolivian Amazonian missionary region.
Thousands in the crowd were from Bolivia’s indigenous majority: Quechua, Guarani and Aymara Indians. The pope was then driven through the streets of Quito.
(AP Photo/Juan Karita). Pope Francis smiles to the crowd as he departs from the Don Bosco school after meeting with priests and seminarians, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Thursday, July 9, 2015. Francis is a fellow Jesuit and he stopped to pray at the site where Espinal’s body was dumped.
“The monopolistic concentration of media is ideological colonialism”, he said.
So when Francis returns to his home continent, it’s an opportunity to see and hear him at his best.
Hundreds of faithful came from Argentina, Brazil and Colombia as well, hoping to catch a glimpse of their pope. Pope Francis asked in front of a colorful audience, including participants dressed in traditional Andean clothes.
The effort includes extra ambulances, helicopters and specially outfitted airplanes, as well as military hospital tents and portable bathrooms. The government declared Thursday a national holiday so everyone could attend.
Morales presents Pope Francis with the crucifix… critics called it a “provocation”. The restaurant was closed for business due to the Mass, in which the pope denounced consumerism. In his speech, he condemned a system that “has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature”, The Guardian quoted.
The inmates pleaded with the pope to help and said little had improved since 36 people were killed in an August 2013 fight between rival gangs inside the penitentiary.
The Vatican didn’t say what Francis was doing with the crucifix.
“For the first time, I feel like I have a pope: Pope Francis“, said Morales. It is Bolivia’s largest city and has a much lower altitude.
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Many people spent the night in the plaza to get a spot for mass and a good view of the pontiff.
