Leo XIV calls indigenous peoples to reconciliation

Pope Leo XIV addressed a message to the Native Peoples and the Network of Theologians of Indigenous Theology, whom he invited to live the Jubilee as an occasion for forgiveness and reconciliation.

Within the framework of the Jubilee of the Native Peoples, celebrated virtually from October 14 to 16, the Holy Father recalled that the Holy Year should be “a moment of living and personal encounter with the Lord,” as well as an occasion for “reconciliation, grateful memory and shared hope, more than a mere external celebration.”

An irreplaceable voice within the Church

In his message, written in Spanish and broadcast on October 16, the Pontiff highlighted the universality of the Church, “which welcomes, dialogues and is enriched by the diversity of peoples,” particularly with indigenous peoples, “whose history, spirituality and hope constitute an irreplaceable voice within the ecclesial communion.”

Thus, he explained that crossing the Holy Door means entering, through faith, “into the very source of divine love, the open side of the Crucified”, which makes us a “People of brothers.”

“It is from that Truth,” he added, “that we must reread our history and our reality, to face the future with the hope to which the Holy Year summons us despite the work and tribulation.”

In this context, he recalled that the Lord is the origin and goal of the universe, as well as “the first source of all that is good, also in our people.” This certainty, he stressed, “is the goal of our hope, it is not just for some but for everyone, even those once considered enemies, the great occupying powers.”

The “lights and shadows” in its history

The Holy Father showed that “the long history of evangelization that our native peoples have known, as the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean have taught so many times, is full of lights and shadows.”

Given this, he once again urged unity and proposed the Jubilee as a precious time for forgiveness, which invites us to “forgive our brothers from the heart, to reconcile ourselves with our own history and to thank God for his mercy toward us.”

In this way, he encouraged them to recognize “both the lights and the wounds of our past,” to understand “that we can only be a People if we truly abandon ourselves to the power of God, to his action in us.”

Leo

“This new life is given to us precisely because we share the fragility of the human condition marked by original sin, and because we have been reached by the grace of Christ,” he stated.

Present your own human wealth with courage and freedom

He then encouraged the indigenous peoples to “present with courage and freedom their own human, cultural and Christian wealth,” and insisted that the Church listens and is enriched “with their unique voices, which have an irreplaceable place in the magnificent choir,” where we all proclaim “Lord eternal God, we sing to you with joy, to you our praise.”

He also warned against the temptation to “put at the center what is not God,” such as power, domination, technology or any created reality, “so that our hearts always remain oriented to the only Lord, source of life and hope.”

“Therefore, for those of us who, by the mercy of God, call ourselves and are Christians, all our historical, social, psychological or methodological discernment finds its ultimate meaning in the supreme mandate of making Jesus Christ known,” he noted.

The Holy Father concluded his message by entrusting his work to the Virgin of Guadalupe, “Star of Evangelization,” who admirably showed us how Jesus Christ “made two peoples one, breaking down the wall of enmity that separated them.”