Temuco, Chile, Jan 17, 2018 / 07:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Chile’s largely indigenous Araucania region, long divided by violent conflict. He stressed the importance of unity, which he said cannot be achieved through violence or forced uniformity.
Pointing to Jesus’ prayer that “they may all be one” at the end of John’s Gospel, Pope Francis noted that it is at this “crucial moment” before his death that Jesus “stops to plea for unity.”
“In his heart, he knows that one of the greatest threats for his disciples and for all mankind will be division and confrontation, the oppression of some by others,” he said, and urged those present to take Jesus’ words in the prayer to heart.
We must “enter with him into this garden of sorrows with those sorrows of our own, and to ask the Father, with Jesus, that we too may be one,” Francis said, and prayed that “confrontation and division never gain the upper hand among us.”
Pope Francis spoke during his Jan. 17 Mass in Chile’s Araucania region in Temuco, which for years has been torn apart by violent conflict surrounding the plight of the area’s Mapuche people, an indigenous group present largely in south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina.
He traveled to the region as part of his Jan. 15-18 visit to Chile, after which he will make an official visit to Peru from Jan. 18-21.
The largest indigenous group in Chile, the Mapuche resisted Spanish conquest during colonial times by using guerrilla warfare tactics to evade soldiers and maintain control of their land.
They continued to resist after Chilean independence in 1818, however, in the 1860s the military gained control, and the majority of their land was given over to members of the military and incoming immigrants.
Despite the launch of some initiatives aimed at restoring parts of their land and the creation of scholarships for Mapuche students, the Mapuche live in one of the poorest areas of Chile and claim to be mistreated by authorities.
Some of the Mapuche have in recent years adopted violent means of protest, and have bombed trucks and land of non-Mapuche people they say are illegally inhabiting the area.
They have also set fire to churches, burning more than two dozen in 2016 and 2017, according to the Chilean prosecutor’s office. Just last Friday three more churches were firebombed in the Chilean capital Santiago in protest of the Pope’s visit.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and authorities are unsure whether Mapuche activists are to blame, however, leaflets criticizing the upcoming visit of Francis and calling for a “free” Mapuche nation were dropped at the scene.
The field attached to the Maquehue Airport, where Pope Francis landed and celebrated Mass, had once been used as a detention center where many indigenous peoples were tortured during Chile’s military government under Augusto Pinochet.
In the lead up to the Pope’s trip, a number of the Mapuche had protested the use of the airport for the papal Mass given the serious human rights violations that took place there, arguing that the land belongs to them and not the government. Two more attacks on churches took place shortly before the Pope’s arrival to Temuco, however, no one has claimed responsibility for these either.
In his homily, Pope Francis recognized that in the past, the airport had been the site of “grave violations of human rights,” and said he was offering the Mass for “all those who suffered and died, and for those who daily bear the burden of those many injustices.” He paused in a moment of silence for all who died.
“The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross bears all the sin and pain of our peoples, in order to redeem it,” he said, and pointed to the day’s Gospel reading from John, in which Jesus prays for the unity of his disciples.
Unity is a gift which must be “persistently sought” for the good of all, and for future generations, he said, but cautioned against what he named as two temptations that can “poison the roots” of this unity.
First, Francis warned against the temptation to confuse unity with uniformity, saying “Jesus does not ask his Father that all may be equal, identical, for unity is not meant to neutralize or silence differences.”
“Unity can never be a stifling uniformity imposed by the powerful, or a segregation that does not value the goodness of others,” he said. Rather, the unity that Jesus refers to is a “reconciled diversity” which recognizes the value of the individual contribution of each tradition and culture.
This unity “will not allow personal or community wrongs to be perpetrated in its name,” the Pope said, adding that “we need the riches that each people has to offer, and we must abandon the notion that there are higher or lower cultures.”
It also requires both listening to and esteeming one another, which in turn builds solidarity. And solidarity, he said, is the most effective weapon against “the deforestation of hope.”
He also warned against the temptation to obtain unity with the use of violence, and cautioned against two forms of violence which he said stifle the growth of unity and reconciliation rather than encouraging them.
The first, he said, are the “elegant agreements that will never be put into practice.” They consist of nice words and detailed plans, and while these are needed, they end up “erasing with the elbow what was written by the hand” when they go unimplemented, he said, explaining that this is a form of violence “because it frustrates hope.”
Second are the actual acts that take place, he said, insisting that “a culture of mutual esteem may not be based on acts of violence and destruction that end up taking human lives.”
“You cannot assert yourself by destroying others, because this only leads to more violence and division,” he said. “Violence begets violence, destruction increases fragmentation and separation. Violence eventually makes a most just cause into a lie.”
Rather than using these two avenues, which are “the lava of a volcano that wipes out and burns everything in its path,” the Pope urged attendees to pursue a path of “active non-violence” as a political style, and told them to never tire of promoting true and peaceful dialogue for the sake of unity.
After Mass, Pope Francis will head to the mother house for the Sisters of the Holy Cross order, where he will each lunch with around 11 people, eight of whom will be Mapuche.
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The Diocese of Winona-Rochester serves 130,000 Catholics. The Santa Barbara Pastoral Region serves over 1,000,000. Where else might Bishop Barron have been assigned?
Well, given the long-time scandal of careerism, but now the importance given to the peripheries, perhaps we can look forward to Cinderella-Cardinal Cupich someday being re-assigned to, say, the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, where there are about 12,000 Catholics, and no Latin Masses.
Good idea!
As loyal as Bishop Barron is to the pontiff his assignment might be due to attachment to deceased traditions. Actually, the area is beautiful, Minnesota U has a campus in Winona [where my brother lectured], the original Mayo Clinic is in Rochester.
With all due respect, Fr. Morello I am so disappointed that Bishop Baron forgot his fellow priests. There are wonderful hard working priests that should have been referred to become Monsignors. I think he is too self serving. It’s very easy to get puffed up!
What are the real reasons behind this appointment? Why Bishop Barron? Is this a promotion, a gesture of confidence in the faithful and evangelically articulate Bishop? Or is this a type of demotion, a sign that the present Vatican administration is not satisfied with his theological message?
My guess, and that’s all it is, is that it’s getting a midwesterner like Barron back to the midwest.
Los Angeles seemed to be the place for a cleric like Bishop Barron, the city being the heart of cinematic and modern communication technological talent, where the Bishop could draw on the latest advances of know-how in this field for his worthy Word on Fire project. But the good Bishop has been maligned by both right and left. Since the present Vatican administration seems to be controlled by those more sympathetic to woke leftism, my suspicion is that these Vatican bureaucrats do not favor Bishop Barron’s center/right theology. Hence he was sidelined to a smaller diocese with less ecclesial influence…
I can’t help but see parallels to Venerable Fulton Sheen. A popular televangelist and auxiliary bishop of a major see is suddenly shipped off to a previously obscure diocese named Rochester to be the ordinary. I’ll be curious to see how this turns out in three years.
Bishop Sheen’s appointment to my home diocese (hardly obscure) was notable for his advocacy in race relations and his opposition to the war in Vietnam. Bishop Barron is about a decade younger than his predecessor was.
Look at it this way: Bishop Barron is a gifted writer and filmmaker. He’s been a professor most of his career. He only moved into leadership in 2012 as a seminary rector. He’s been #2/3 in a large diocese, but that’s not the same as being captain of his own ship. Maybe his gifts are better suited to his diocese in Minnesota, which is hardly a backwater.
Does everything have to have a political undercurrent?
No comparison!
Bishop Barron seems to be pleased with the appointment. So, it is best to leave it at that.
In reading Bishop Barron’s daily Gospel reflection, I note how often he states, “Your life is not about you.” Yet, The Word on Fire ministry sure seems to be all about Bishop Barron. All the videos of important people in Church history feature Bishop Barron prominently. Perhaps, if he had invited other prelates to be part of this series, I might be more inclined to believe him when he says, “Your life is not about you.”
Have you ever actually watched any of Bishop Barron’s conversations with prominent thinkers/rationalists/evolutionary professors…etc? His videos are the opposite of self-centered. God bless you and I hope you find it in your heart to see all life as a gift. Bishop Barron’s gifts are helping a great many people in a time when the world is very self-centered and prideful.
Thank you I agree and say AMEN
There are indeed striking parallels with Bishop Sheen. I recall his publicly welcoming his appointment (as Bishop Barron has) to Rochester N.Y. in the 1960s. The care of souls, he said, was his great concern. Rochester N.Y. was a far cry from New York City. It clearly did not require a man of Sheen’s great gifts. Likewise, Winona-Rochester is a world away from Los Angeles, and does not require an immensely gifted bishop. Now, as in Bishop Sheen’s day, high church appointments are politically charged. Let us hope and pray Bishop Barron’s tenure will not end as Bishop Sheen’s did.
Godly men appointed to high office are well received by the faithful. Yet, others have responsibility but lack fidelity to scripture and church tradition. Each must decide whom he will serve.
James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Blessings to Bishop Barron and appreciation to he who appointed him.
I suspect the appointment, like many others, is a ‘test’ or stepping stone that others who have eventually became archbishops or cardinals went through: first as an auxiliary, then as the bishop of a smaller diocese to see if they can handle being in charge of a small place. Hopefully Bishop Barron can do good work both as bishop and overseeing Word On Fire – maybe a smaller diocese gives him leeway to continue to work on his media projects. But that’s just speculation.
I’ve always enjoyed my time with Barron when in Chicago and wish him the best in Minnesota.
AMEN i AGREE i AM A MEMBER OF WORD ON FIRE AND FOLLOW HIM FAITHFULLY AND I LIKE HIS WAY FO REACHING OUT ( NOT OLD FASHIONED)….MODERN……