Why did Pope Benedict XVI say American Indians had been "silently longing" to become Christians 500 years ago?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6656081.stm

Julia, I did not give you thumb's down.

Answer 1

because he's an ex NAZI FREAK. do some research, you can see the truth. pope benedict has said alot of things in the past few months that is probably going to get him shot, my opinion of course

Answer 2

The answer above, and this too:

The Pope was speaking from a Catholic viewpoint, a faith that has an intimate realtionship with the Indigenous of the Americas.

A very good example is the Virgin of Guadalupe of Mexico, whose image was found and began to be venerated on the same area on which stood the statue an important indigenous godes, "our venerable mother, Lady Snake." In comparison to this godess, however, the image of the Virgin wears no mask, and her face is visible.

According to Pope Benedict, this shows an important point. The new image took up the old and unified it around a new center (the face is now unvelied). The Virgin Mary (and Christianity) stands above religions, but doesn't trample them, rather purifies and complements them, and assimilates them into unity.

*ps: the immage has many "secrets" relating to the Indigenous, who were very religious people and looked for messages from God in the skies and nature.

In the immage, Mary is standing on the moon, an Indian symbol of the presence of God, of plentitud, and the center of space and time.

The indigenous could observe several astrological signs on the day of the aparition of the immage, on July 12th 1534. These include the unification of the Sun and Venus. Venus signified the Man-God to the Nahuatl Indians, it´s unification with the sun (which happens only once a decade), signifies the return of culture, of religion and light.

Also according to the Indigenous interpreatation of the immage, the Lady is pregnant, based on the way her hair stands, and the cloth around her hands.

The stars on Mary`s veil were also discovered in the 1950´s to be a map of the constelations of the brightest stars seen each year on July 12th, in the Anajuac Valley were the immage was found and the aparitions were seen.

In the immage, one of Mary`s hands are dark, like the Indian, the other is white, possibly signifying a oness of the two races in prayer.

It has also been suggested that the word Guadalupe is the deviation of the Indeginous word "Coatlaxopeuh" which means "The one Who Crushes the Seprent", referring to the snake godess.

This immage is just one example, but now I hope the Pope´s "statement", that the Indians were silently waiting for Christianity, is a little clearer.

For more "secrets" of the Virgin of Guadalupe, visist this site: http://www.virgendeguadalupe.org.mx/estudios/interpretacion.htm

To see the constellations, http://www.yaeshora.net/textos.php?sec=1&id=11

Answer 3

Arrogant presumption that his religion is the one and only correct one and every other is false.

"The pope said Sunday that pre-Columbian people of Latin America and the Caribbean were seeking Christ without realizing it. 'Christ is the savior for whom they were silently longing,' Benedict told a regional conference of bishops in Brazil."

All in all, I don't find it a particularly shocking statement. It's the kind of presumption one should expect from Christians who believe that Jesus is the one and only Savior of mankind. He's just expressing a certain point of view, nothing to get enraged about.

BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6656081.stm

Answer 4

Catholics believe the desire for God is written in the human heart, because each person is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw each person to himself.

This includes every human being whether they are European, Asian, African, or North or South American. The Pope was just expressing what Catholics have believed for almost 2,000 years.

Here is the relevant paragraph of Pope Benedict's speech at the Inaugural Session of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sunday, 13 May 2007:

Yet what did the acceptance of the Christian faith mean for the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean? For them, it meant knowing and welcoming Christ, the unknown God whom their ancestors were seeking, without realizing it, in their rich religious traditions. Christ is the Saviour for whom they were silently longing. It also meant that they received, in the waters of Baptism, the divine life that made them children of God by adoption; moreover, they received the Holy Spirit who came to make their cultures fruitful, purifying them and developing the numerous seeds that the incarnate Word had planted in them, thereby guiding them along the paths of the Gospel. In effect, the proclamation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre-Columbian cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture. Authentic cultures are not closed in upon themselves, nor are they set in stone at a particular point in history, but they are open, or better still, they are seeking an encounter with other cultures, hoping to reach universality through encounter and dialogue with other ways of life and with elements that can lead to a new synthesis, in which the diversity of expressions is always respected as well as the diversity of their particular cultural embodiment.

Here is the entire speech: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2007/may/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20070513_conference-aparecida_en.html

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 27: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1.htm#chpt1

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

Seriously. Where did he say that, provide a source or something. I can't imagine anyone could be that ignorant.

EDIT: What, you're going to give me a thumb's down for asking for a source?? Come on now. That's just wrong. The statement you cited is so ignorant and so KNOWN to be ignorant that even the Pope's own followers would be going "What the hell???". Let alone the rest of the known civilized world. I don't think the Pope would actually put himself in such a position. He's in too public a position and that statement is known universally to not be true. So, provide the source for it so I can see it for myself. And no, Im not even Catholic. It just makes no sense, is all, that he would risk his reputation like that in front of the world. Huge religious leaders like that are usually pretty careful about that sort of thing.

EDIT2: Well thank you Paladin! I was unaware of the idiocy to which huge religious leaders ARE willing to sink! Wow. Thanks for the link. Unreal. I think a lot of people will be like "no way did he say that" and then "WTF! Get him outta here." Hopefully. Wow, the sheer audacity and arrogance of that is just breathtaking.

Answer 6

I hear some Christians say everyone knows Christianity is right, they're just denying it. Perhaps this is what the pope has in mind.

If in fact what the pope says is true, then why did so many of them have to be foreced into Christianity? Why do so many of them still go back to native beliefs?

Answer 7

Ok...follow along if you can.

The Pope is the Head of the Roman Catholic Church. That means he's the leader.

The Roman Catholic Church has taught for 2,000 years that it is the One, True Church of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ taught that He, Himself was the Messiah - the "Savior of the World."

The Church teaches that ALL people desire (long for, if you will) Salvation.

Therefore, the Pope was simply saying what the Church has been saying for 2,000 years.

Why do you people keep assuming that when someone is elected Pope, they're going to hold some sort of Liberal, "anything goes, everyone is right, we're just one possible way" theology?

Answer 8

Think he had too much wine for the day, the native Americans were more spiritual and did not want Christianity.
300 years ago the US government had wanted posters paying so much for a braves head, squaw head and child's head. So now why would they want anything to do with
Christians?

Answer 9

Because Pope Benedict XVI has developed a habit of putting his foot in his mouth.

Seriously, sometimes he says stuff that makes me think. "Are you my racist grandpa?"

Pope John Paul II = Best Pope Ever!

Answer 10

I think it's just an attempt to justify the actions of the church in the past, by rationalizing and adding a little magical thinking to it. Unfortunately, it comes across as arrogance and ignorance.

Answer 11

that pope is a fool all religion has destroid thats countrys gods in favour of the fairy tale one and destroyed the people at the same time the same that fairy tale religion has done to most countrys on this planet and brainwashed the people