Bo Sanders: Public Theology

In speaking of immigration to US Congress today, Pope Francis said:

Tragically, the rights of those who were here long before us were not always respected. For those people, and the nations, from the heart of American democracy, we affirm my highest esteem and appreciation. Those first contacts were often turbulent and violent, but…” lifting his face from the script and looking out into the crowd he said, “ we know it’s very difficult to judge the past by the criteria of the present.” The, wait for it…yes, the congress applauds.

Honorable Pope Francis, may I express to you the age-old lesson that history repeats itself? People and governments repeat the “sins and the errors of the past” by not fully dealing with their responsibilities in the past. Your casual reference to the sins of America’s past, never even naming our peoples as First Nations, Native Americans or Indigenous peoples…