Under AMLO pressure, Francisco asked for forgiveness for the “sins” of the Catholic Church

The dad Francisco He apologized for the “sins” of the Catholic Church in Mexico, according to a letter published Monday on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the independence of the Latin American country.

“My predecessors and I asked forgiveness for personal and social sins, for all actions or omissions that did not contribute to evangelization”reads the message read during the daily conference of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

“To strengthen the roots, it is necessary to re-read the past, taking into account both the lights and the shadows that have shaped the history of the country. This retrospective look necessarily includes a process of purification of memory,” said the Pontiff. .

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The letter came after the president repeatedly pressured the Spanish government and the Vatican to apologize for abuses committed during the Conquest and evangelism in Mexico.

Already in October 2020, López Obrador sent a letter to the Pope in which he indicated the advisability of asking forgiveness for those “shameful atrocities“That indigenous peoples have suffered, the plundering of their property and their lands and their cultural and religious subjugation.

López Obrador’s letter called on Francisco for a “public commitment from the Church that never again will episodes such as those experienced during the period of the Conquest, in which non-humanitarian methods be used to carry out the evangelization ”.

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“To strengthen the roots, we must (…) recognize the mistakes made in the past which were very painful”, wrote the Pope in the letter addressed to Rogelio Cabrera, president of the Conference of the Mexican episcopate.

Francisco said that “neither can we ignore the actions which, more recently, have been committed against the Christian religious sentiment of a large part of the Mexican people, thus causing deep suffering”.

The Catholic Church has faced several pedophile scandals in Mexico in recent years. At least 175 minors were victims of sexual abuse committed by members of the Legionaries of Christ congregation between 1941 and 2019, including 60 by its founder Marcial Maciel, who died in 2008, according to an internal report from the order itself. disclosed in December 2019.

Pope Francis noted, however, that does not evoke these “pains” of staying in the past, if not then “learn from them and continue to take action to heal the wounds, to cultivate an open and respectful dialogue”.