Jamil Chad The announcement of Bento 16 in Brazil caused unease among the locals 31.12.2022 09:56

Pope XVI. forcibly converted to Catholicism”. The German, who died today in the face of protests, softened the conversation a few weeks later.

Speaking in Aparecida, he said that the locals welcomed the European priests and that “the savior they had been waiting for in silence was Jesus.”

His position has failed to create friction among historians and organizations that have condemned the deaths of millions of indigenous people during the years of colonization, and even in recent decades.

It is arrogant and disrespectful to see our own cultural heritage as less important than theirs.
Jecinaldo Sater Mawe, chief coordinator of Coiab (Coordination of Brazilian Amazonian Indigenous Organizations), said at the time:

What still surprises parties is that Benedict 16 made these statements days after receiving a letter from indigenous leaders condemning a genocide.

This was not the only controversial point. Under German rule, the Vatican sought to include in an agreement with Brazil the government’s obligation to guarantee free access to religious beliefs to all indigenous reserves.

The text of the treaty was discussed during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Brazil. The government rejected the terms of the agreement and the Vatican had to step back from discussing the issue.

Years later, Pope XVI.

The Pope delivered the message during a meeting in the Vatican with 15 bishops from the northern region of Brazil.

Benedict XVI warned that “worship cannot arise from our imagination,” since “true ritual presupposes that God responds and shows us how we can worship him.”

The message was clear: the Church will not accept syncretism, even in remote areas where local culture predominates. The Pope demanded that the centrality of Jesus be respected in the celebration of the Mass.

Benedict XVI insisted he was concerned about “anything that might obscure the most original point of the Catholic faith” and warned of the risks of syncretism.

The Pope warned Brazilian bishops that deviations could stem from a mentality “incapable of accepting the real possibility of divine intervention.” For him, the Eucharist is “a great gift to support ambiguities and reductions”.

For the Pope, alleged sect-related carelessness would signal a community that should reconsider their practices. “There is a darkness in the Christian sense of the sacrament,” said the Pope, when “the figure of Christ in the Sacred Mass appears not as a supreme element, but as a multi-tasking community.”