Pope urges defence and promotion of Latin American,
Caribbean richness and diversity
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| Pope Francis celebrating Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in St. Peter's Basilica, Dec.12, 2017.- ANSA |
by Robin Gomes
The mother of God is a figure of the Church from whom we
want to learn to be a Church that embraces all the richness
and cultural diversity of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean,
where no one feels ashamed or small. Pope Francis’
exhortation came in his homily at an evening Mass on Tuesday to commemorate
the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose image is enshrined in
Mexico City and is venerated all over the world, especially in the
Americas.
Elizabeth's sterility
Reflecting on the Gospel episode of Mary’s visit to
Elizabeth after the Annunciation, the Pope drew attention to the sterility and
fertility of Elizabeth. In her sterility, the Pope explained, she
felt stigmatized and belittled by a mentality that considered
her condition as a punishment for her or her husband’s sins.
Juan Diego, the indigenous Mexican to whom the Lady
of Guadalupe appeared in 1531, also felt the same. The Argentinian Pope
noted that it is the same with the indigenous and Afro-American
communities. Often they are not treated with dignity and don’t have a
level playing field; many women are excluded for reasons of gender, race and
socio-economic situation; young people receive a low-quality education and do
not have the opportunity to continue their studies, or find a job to start a
family; many poor, unemployed, migrants are expelled from their land; landless
peasants try to survive in the informal economy, and children and girls are
subjected to child prostitution, frequently linked to sex tourism.
Elizabeth's fertility
On the other hand, the Pope said, when we contemplate
Elizabeth’s fertility we see her as a fruitful-astonished woman.
“In her we understand that the dream of God is neither sterility, stigma or
shaming his children, but to make a song of blessing flow in and from
them.” Likewise, the mantle of Juan Diego was imprinted with image
of the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe with the face of
a mixed race, to show that the Mother is capable of assuming the
traits of her children to make them feel part of her blessing.
Richness, diversity of Latin America, Caribbean
The Holy Father said that the fertility-sterility dialectic
draws our attention to richness and cultural diversity of the peoples of Latin
America and the Caribbean, which he said should not only to be cultivated but
also defended courageously from any attempt at homogenization that
ends up imposing a single way of thinking, being, feeling and living that ends
up in sterility. “Our fruitfulness ,” Pope Francis said, “asks us
to defend our peoples from an ideological colonization that
cancels what is richer in them, whether indigenous, Afro-American, mixed race,
peasants or people in the suburbs.
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