One year ago, Pope Francis disavowed the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ – but Indigenous Catholics’ work for respect and recognition goes back decades | News & Features

Indigenous movements across the Americas rejected such a rosy depiction of colonization, enslavement and forced conversion. Instead, they organized protests under the banner of “500 Years of Resistance,” celebrating Indigenous resilience, culture, language and spirituality. In Tehuacán, Mexico, Indigenous Catholic priests led a march of nearly 20,000 Nahua people that culminated in an open-air Mass conducted in Nahuátl – the language of the Mexica, or Aztecs.

It was not until 2013, after Francis’ election as pope, that the Vatican approved Nahuátl as an official language of the Catholic Church – meaning it can be used to conduct Mass inside churches. In addition, the Vatican ordered Mexican bishops to translate Catholic liturgy and texts into Nahuátl.

This was a large first step in recognizing the decades of work of Indigenous Catholics to insist that multiple Catholicisms can and should exist side by side.

Since 2015, the Mexican Catholic Church has hosted an annual Nahuátl Mass in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Mass opened with traditional rural Indigenous music, and the offerings and decorations evoked the sights, sounds and smells of an Indigenous community parish – an open embrace of Indigenous Catholicisms.

Across the Catholic world, the Vatican has been opening to multicultural Catholicisms in recent years. The Nahuátl Mass is but one example, as is the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery.

Francis’ statement was important as an institutional recognition of historical atrocities. More profoundly, it was a validation of Indigenous Catholic activists’ demands for inclusion on their terms, even while disputes over multiculturalism continue.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

Eben Levey received funding from a Fulbright Fellowship and from the University of Maryland, College Park for his dissertation research.