The disappearance of 43 college students in Mexico one year ago Saturday would seem to have little connection with Pope Francis’ visit to the United States this week.
But to the two dozen
people protesting on Friday in front of the Mexican Consulate on East
39th Street, tenets of the Roman Catholic Church espoused in the 15th
century continue to haunt the indigenous peoples of Mexico, the United
States and other countries in the Americas.
The demonstrators,
most of them immigrants from Mexico, want the pope to formally renounce
the religious foundation the church laid for the conquering and
enslavement of non-Christians in the New World.
So while Pope Francis
celebrated Mass at Madison Square Garden, they carried pictures of all
43 students and lit 43 candles on the sidewalk.
“No somos todos, nos faltan 43,” they chanted. “We are not complete, we are missing 43.”
During the height of
Western exploration and colonization of the Americas, the Roman Catholic
Church supported the wholesale subjugation of non-Christians through
the 1493 Doctrine of Discovery. Among other applications, the doctrine
was used as the legal and religious basis for seizing land rights with
impunity.
This doctrine, the
protesters say, led to a devaluation of the lives of indigenous peoples
in Mexico and elsewhere that continues to this day and that contributed
to the kidnapping and murder of the 43 students.
“There’s a historic
complicity between the church and the Mexican government,” said Tupac Enrique Acosta, 63, a member of the Nahuatl Nation and a protest
organizer.
“These 43 are only added to the body count that has
accumulated over 500 years and that has been sanctified through systems
of colonization by the church.”
The Vatican has
insisted that the Doctrine of Discovery is ancient history, but
advocates for indigenous peoples maintain that its effects remain.
Emilio Montez, 26,
another organizer, has been protesting outside the consulate on the 26th
of each month since the mass kidnapping last year. On Friday, he hoped
his efforts might hold particular meaning.
“If Pope Francis won’t help,” he said, “who will?”
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