The Pope and the Brazilian Indians

Frank Ford sent me an article today entitled "Brazil's Indians offended by Pope comments". Here's part of what it says:

Outraged Indian leaders in Brazil said on Monday they were offended by Pope Benedict's "arrogant and disrespectful" comments that the Roman Catholic Church had purified them and a revival of their religions would be a backward step.

In a speech to Latin American and Caribbean bishops at the end of a visit to Brazil, the Pope said the Church had not imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

They had welcomed the arrival of European priests at the time of the conquest as they were "silently longing" for Christianity, he said.

Millions of tribal Indians are believed to have died as a result of European colonization backed by the Church since Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, through slaughter, disease or enslavement.

Many Indians today struggle for survival, stripped of their traditional ways of life and excluded from society.

"It's arrogant and disrespectful to consider our cultural heritage secondary to theirs," said Jecinaldo Satere Mawe, chief coordinator of the Amazon Indian group Coiab.
...
"The Pope doesn't understand the reality of the Indians here, his statement was wrong and indefensible," Cimi [an Indian advocacy group] advisor Father Paulo Suess told Reuters. "I too was upset."

I think maybe the Pope has led a sheltered life and really doesn't understand how what he says will be perceived. At least, that's the charitable way of looking at it.