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/** reg.samerica: 233.0 **/
** Topic: SANTO DOMINGO BISHOP CONFERENCE **
** Written  2:12 am  Oct 12, 1992 by gn:geonet in cdp:reg.samerica **
Subject: SANTO DOMINGO BISHOP CONFERENCE
From: GEO2:CIIR-DR
Date: 11-10-92, 23:48:42
To: CELAM-ML
Cc: CAFOD HUMAN-RIGHTS LATIN-AMERICA

From Francis McDonagh, Santo Domingo, Sunday 11 December, 1345 LOCAL TIME.

As the papal visit to Santo Domingo unfolds, the impossibility
of separating religion from politics becomes blindingly clear.
The 500 years and the Columbus anniversary are Santo Domingo's
brand image for 1992, at the core of a marketing strategy
designed to attract free-spending tourists.  From the point of
view of the Dominican republic authorities, the Pope and the
Latin American bishops' conference are further trumps in their
commercial hand.  The slogan, 'Vth Centenary' is plastered all
over Santo Domingo.  Most bizarrely, it is blazoned on the
armbands of the abundant military and police stationed along all
the streets of the city centre.  Most of them are involved in
nothing more than crowd control, though the soldiers with
automatic weapons filling the Cathedral square during the Pope's
mass for religious yesterday afternoon also sported the 'Vth
centenary' armbands.
As is customary, the Pope was received at the airport with
the honours due to a head of state, though in this case they
included a military guard of honour and a 21-gun salute.  The 72-
year old Pope looked well, though he did not kiss the ground on
his descent from the Alitalia jet.
In his speech at the airport John Paul II restated the
guidelines for the celebration of the 500 years which he
formulated in 1984, when he initiated a period of preparation
for the anniversary: 'The church, for her part, wishes to
approach the celebration of this fifth centenary with the
humility of truth, without triumphalism or false shame, looking
only at the truth, to thank God for the successes and to draw
from the mistakes reasons to renew itself for the push into the
future'.
Unfortunately, these unexceptionable guidelines become
blurred in the context of Santo Domingo.  The mass itself
symbolised this very well, the altar tacked on to the end of the
Columbus mausoleum, and both altar and mausoleum resting on the
foundation laid years ago by the Dominican dictator Trujillo.
For those who have no qualms about these celebrations, there is
nothing to worry about.  Prominent among these is the archbishop
of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicol_s de Jesus Lopes Rodriguez, who
labelled critics of the celebrations 'layabouts' and
'loudmouths'.  The archbishop also cancelled all other masses in
the capital this Sunday morning, leaving the only opportunity to
fulfil the Sunday obligation the mass at the monument.
There have been a number of occasions on which it would have
been possible to distance the church from the unalloyed
celebration.  The most eloquent example would have been the
penitential rite of the mass at the monument. It was not taken.
Nor did the Pope's homily at the mass have anything more than a
passing reference to the plight of the indigenous peoples.  In
contrast, Cardinal Rodriguez explicitly extolled the evangelising
aims of the King and Queen of Spain, especially Isabel the
Catholic and, more controversially, linked the celebrations at
the monument with the bishops' meeting, which opens tomorrow
evening. The other opportunity missed is in the papal message
inscribed on the side of the monument - see previous report.  The
message ends by calling this continent 'Latin America, Christian
America', an identification which has been controversial in the
preparatory discussions, since it is seen as embodying a claim
to European cultural predominance which the 'new evangelisation'
called for by the Pope has to question.  Even non-Latin
Christians, especially Protestants who to Jerusalem, Nicea and
Chalcedon before the look to Rome, let alone non-Christians,
might well feel excluded by such language.
The bishops' conference opens on Monday night, and won't
really get down to business before Tuesday.  The interval may
help to distance the proceedings from the Columbus events, but
it will take a strong statement by the assembled bishops to break
the tendrils of Vatican ideology insidiously twisting round them
like a tropical creeper, seeking to bind them fast to the dubious
dry bones in the Columbus mausoleum.

FOLLOWING ARE FULLER EXTRACTS FROM THE POPE'S SPEECH AT THE
AIRPORT AND THE FULL TEXT OF THE INSCRIPTION ON THE COLUMBUS
MONUMENT.
POPE'S SPEECH AT AIRPORT
As a pilgrim of evangelisation I come to this gateway of the
Americas where, like those missionaries who accompanied the
discoverers, I had the good fortune to celebrate my first mass
on the first pastoral visit of my pontificate.  12 October
1984...  I reiterate:  'The church, for her part, wishes to
approach the celebration of this fifth centenary with the
humility of truth, without triumphalism or false shame, looking
only at the truth, to thank God for the successes and to draw
from the mistakes reasons to renew itself for the push into the
future'.
With this apostolic journey I come to celebrate, above all, Jesus
Christ, the first and greatest evangeliser, who gave to his
church the task of proclaiming throughout the world his message
of salvation.  I come as a herald of Christ and in fulfilment of
the mission entrusted to the apostle Peter and his successors to
confirm his brothers in faith (cf Lk 22.32).  I come also to
share your faith, your aspirations, joys and sufferings.
this 12 October, 500 years from the implantation of Christ's
cross in the new world.
The church, which during this half-millennium has accompanied the
peoples of Latin America on their journey, sharing their joys
and yearnings, peoples who today are at a crossroads of history,
faced with urgent and difficult problems, feels challenged by the
dramatic situation of so many of her children, who seek from her
a word of  encouragement and hope.  Therefore, in union with the
pastors of the church gathered in this assembly, I wish to
reaffirm our irreversible vocation to the service of the men and
women of Latin America and to proclaim their inalienable dignity
as children of God, redeemed by Jesus Christ.
and all those who suffer in body or spirit.

JP2 TEXT ON COLUMBUS MONUMENT


Latin America,
As successor of Peter and bishop of Rome, I greet you on the
fifth centenary of your  evangelisation, recalling that year 1492
in which the ships of Spain, guided by Columbus, brought to these
fertile lands the seeds of the gospel, also making a reality the
meeting of two worlds...

Your openness to grace and your welcome to the word of life took
you from darkness to that marvellous light, which in your men and
women saints, is a radiant lighthouse which, through the church,
illuminates the whole world.
refuge of the needy.  Go froward, America, towards Christ,
redeemer of man and lord of history.
Before you goes Mary, star of the seas, refuge of voyagers,
harbour of salvation.  Behind you blows the wind of the Spirit,
which guides the barque of the church as once it guided to your
shores the caravel 'Santa Maria' under the firm hand of
Christopher Columbus.
Journey on in haste towards the new heavens and the new earth,
to write, with the word and grace of Christ, new pages in your
history of salvation.
Latin America, Christian America, Christ is your blazing
lighthouse, your joy and your hope!
** End of text from cdp:reg.samerica **
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