Just days after Pope Francis canonized Father Junipero Serra, someone vandalized a statue of the new saint at the historic Carmel Mission, according to the church.
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“The Mission needs volunteers and skilled professionals to volunteer with the clean up today“.
Hundreds of visitors who arrived at 11 a.m. for the celebration to commemorate this week’s canonization of missionary Junipero Serra by Pope Francis saw only mere hints of paint here and there.
Several American Indian groups have opposed Serra’s canonization, calling him an imperialist who killed thousands of indigenous people.
The vandalism appeared to be focused on the gravesites of interred Europeans, not those graves of Native Americans, Powell said.
“Everywhere they put a mission the majority of Indians are gone,” Andrade said, “and Serra knew what they were doing: they were taking the land, taking the crops, he knew the soldiers were raping women, and he turned his head.”
On Wednesday, Pope Francis elevated Serra to sainthood.
The canonization, the first ever on USA soil, was a high point of the Pope’s visit to the United States for many Latino faithful.
Serra introduced Christianity and established settlements as he marched north with Spanish conquistadores. He would go on to found numerous additional missions, including San Francisco.
University of California at Riverside history professor Steven Hackel, author of “Junipero Serra: California’s Founding Father”, described the monk as “a very controversial figure even in his own day”. He was excited about blazing trails, going forth to meet many people, learning and valuing their particular customs and ways of life.
Murphy said he forgives whoever is responsible for the damage, and has asked parishioners to do the same, but the law has a different take on this. Police are investigating, the basilica said on its Facebook page.
The vandals, who police say acted sometime Saturday night or early Sunday morning, splashed paint throughout the cemetery and basilica and scrawled “Saint of Genocide” on a headstone.
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Investigators were reviewing security video captured by private cameras at the mission and were canvassing the neighborhood to see if anyone may have witnessed the crime.
