This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Pope Francis declares Junípero Serra a saint on surprisingly political visit to DC – live
Pope Francis declares Junípero Serra a saint on surprisingly political visit to DC – live
(30 days later)
11.49pm BST
11.49pm BST
23:49
23:49
Junipero Serra sainted, pope speaks on climate change and celebrates response to abuse
Junipero Serra sainted, pope speaks on climate change and celebrates response to abuse
Pope Francis didn’t take a break on his first day in the US. Here’s the day’s events:
Pope Francis didn’t take a break on his first day in the US. Here’s the day’s events:
Thanks very much for joining us on the Guardian’s PopeBlog. Tomorrow Pope Francis will address a joint session of Congress – it should be another busy day for the 78-year-old pontiff. See you then.
Thanks very much for joining us on the Guardian’s PopeBlog. Tomorrow Pope Francis will address a joint session of Congress – it should be another busy day for the 78-year-old pontiff. See you then.
11.21pm BST
11.21pm BST
23:21
23:21
And the mass has ended. The pope and his entourage depart.
And the mass has ended. The pope and his entourage depart.
And another observation from papal biographer Austen Ivereigh, who has been the best commentator on Twitter during the tour:
And another observation from papal biographer Austen Ivereigh, who has been the best commentator on Twitter during the tour:
Pope places Rosary on statue of Virgin — and touches the statue. His sciatica looks bad. He needs prayers of San Junípero.
Pope places Rosary on statue of Virgin — and touches the statue. His sciatica looks bad. He needs prayers of San Junípero.
Updated
Updated
at 11.23pm BST
at 11.23pm BST
11.17pm BST
11.17pm BST
23:17
23:17
Applause, shouts of Viva! and a standing ovation led by Vice-President Joe Biden.
Applause, shouts of Viva! and a standing ovation led by Vice-President Joe Biden.
11.16pm BST
11.16pm BST
23:16
23:16
After communion, Cardinal Wuerl stands to address the pope. He calls the pastoral visit a “blessing for all of us”.
After communion, Cardinal Wuerl stands to address the pope. He calls the pastoral visit a “blessing for all of us”.
Wuerl reflects on the multicultural characteristics of the church and on Junipero Serra, who, he says, “offers us an example of the tireless effort to share the gospel, as we seek today to enrich our culture with the love of God and love of neighbor”.
Wuerl reflects on the multicultural characteristics of the church and on Junipero Serra, who, he says, “offers us an example of the tireless effort to share the gospel, as we seek today to enrich our culture with the love of God and love of neighbor”.
“We also try to care for our common home, the good earth. All of us at this mass profess our faith and strive to live it in service and love. We take seriously your call in Laudato Si’ to face the challenges of our day ...”
“We also try to care for our common home, the good earth. All of us at this mass profess our faith and strive to live it in service and love. We take seriously your call in Laudato Si’ to face the challenges of our day ...”
11.09pm BST
11.09pm BST
23:09
23:09
Holy communion is still being distributed. The mammoth congregation means it is taking a very long time.
Holy communion is still being distributed. The mammoth congregation means it is taking a very long time.
11.05pm BST
11.05pm BST
23:05
23:05
Here’s a lovely gallery of Pope Francis’s devotees.
Here’s a lovely gallery of Pope Francis’s devotees.
Related: Pope Francis fans gather in Washington DC for parade – in pictures
Related: Pope Francis fans gather in Washington DC for parade – in pictures
11.01pm BST
11.01pm BST
23:01
23:01
An interesting note on translations from papal biographer Austen Ivereigh:
An interesting note on translations from papal biographer Austen Ivereigh:
A jarring note. Pope at Serra Mass using the Spanish 2nd pers plural forms (tomad .. bebed) rather than Latin-American (tomen.. beban).
A jarring note. Pope at Serra Mass using the Spanish 2nd pers plural forms (tomad .. bebed) rather than Latin-American (tomen.. beban).
10.52pm BST
10.52pm BST
22:52
22:52
Junipero Serra, sainted by the pope today, is subject of one of USA's most hideous statues. http://t.co/mEAQxObBCx pic.twitter.com/H66PpbJMbZ
Junipero Serra, sainted by the pope today, is subject of one of USA's most hideous statues. http://t.co/mEAQxObBCx pic.twitter.com/H66PpbJMbZ
10.42pm BST
10.42pm BST
22:42
22:42
10.41pm BST
10.41pm BST
22:41
22:41
This part of the mass will take a while – if you’re not into liturgy, now’s a good time to take the dog for a run around the block or something. Take your phone with you though, in case there’s more live updates.
This part of the mass will take a while – if you’re not into liturgy, now’s a good time to take the dog for a run around the block or something. Take your phone with you though, in case there’s more live updates.
10.33pm BST
22:33
Pope Francis calls the congregation to prayer before the second half of the mass, the eucharistic rite, where he will consecrate the bread and wine to become, Catholics believe, the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
10.29pm BST
22:29
Pope Francis: Junipero Serra 'sought to defend the dignity of the native community'
During his canonization mass, the pope described Junipero Serra as the “embodiment of ‘a Church which goes forth’, a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling tenderness of God”.
But he is not known for his tenderness in the Native American community. As Rose Aguilar, a descendant of the Pomo tribe of Northern California, wrote in Comment is Free yesterday, Serra “oversaw the whipping, beating, flogging and extermination of Native Americans in what is now California”.
Despite these concerns, which have been voiced repeatedly in recent weeks, Pope Francis insisted “Junipero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated it and abused it”.
Aguilar has called on the pope to “meet with members of the California’s tribes, acknowledge these atrocities and allow healing and reconciliation to begin”.
From Amana Fontanella-Khan.
Updated
at 10.30pm BST
10.24pm BST
22:24
Pope Francis's homily for the canonization of Junipero Serra – full text
Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again, rejoice! These are striking words, words which impact our lives. Paul tells us to rejoice; he practically orders us to rejoice. This command resonates with the desire we all have for a fulfilling life, a meaningful life, a joyful life.
It is as if Paul could hear what each one of us is thinking in his or her heart and to voice what we are feeling, what we are experiencing. Something deep within us invites us to rejoice and tells us not to settle for placebos which simply keep us comfortable. At the same time, though, we all know the struggles of everyday life.
So much seems to stand in the way of this invitation to rejoice. Our daily routine can often lead us to a kind of glum apathy which gradually becomes a habit, with a fatal consequence: our hearts grow numb. We don’t want apathy to guide our lives … or do we? We don’t want the force of habit to rule our life … or do we? So we ought to ask ourselves: What can we do to keep our heart from growing numb, becoming anesthetized? How do we make the joy of the Gospel increase and take deeper root in our lives?
Jesus gives the answer. He said to his disciples then and he says it to us now: Go forth! Proclaim! The joy of the Gospel is something to be experienced, something to be known and lived only through giving it away, through giving ourselves away.
The spirit of the world tells us to be like everyone else, to settle for what comes easy. Faced with this human way of thinking, “we must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and for the world” (Laudato Si’, 229). It is the responsibility to proclaim the message of Jesus. For the source of our joy is “an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of our own experience of the power of the Father’s infinite mercy” (Evangelii Gaudium, 24).
Go out to all, proclaim by anointing and anoint by proclaiming. This is what the Lord tells us today. He tells us: A Christian finds joy in mission: Go out to people of every nation! A Christian experiences joy in following a command: Go forth and proclaim the good news! A Christian finds ever new joy in answering a call: Go forth and anoint!
Jesus sends his disciples out to all nations. To every people. We too were part of all those people of two thousand years ago. Jesus did not provide a short list of who is, or is not, worthy of receiving his message, his presence. Instead, he always embraced life as he saw it. In faces of pain, hunger, sickness and sin. In faces of wounds, of thirst, of weariness, doubt and pity. Far from expecting a pretty life, smartly-dressed and neatly groomed, he embraced life as he found it. It made no difference whether it was dirty, unkempt, broken.
Jesus said: Go out and tell the good news to everyone. Go out and in my name embrace life as it is, and not as you think it should be. Go out to the highways and byways, go out to tell the good news fearlessly, without prejudice, without superiority, without condescension, to all those who have lost the joy of living. Go out to proclaim the merciful embrace of the Father. Go out to those who are burdened by pain and failure, who feel that their lives are empty, and proclaim the folly of a loving Father who wants to anoint them with the oil of hope, the oil of salvation.
Go out to proclaim the good news that error, deceitful illusions and falsehoods do not have the last word in a person’s life. Go out with the ointment which soothes wounds and heals hearts. Mission is never the fruit of a perfectly planned program or a well-organized manual. Mission is always the fruit of a life which knows what it is to be found and healed, encountered and forgiven. Mission is born of a constant experience of God’s merciful anointing.
The Church, the holy People of God, treads the dust-laden paths of history, so often traversed by conflict, injustice and violence, in order to encounter her children, our brothers and sisters. The holy and faithful People of God are not afraid of losing their way; they are afraid of becoming self-enclosed, frozen into élites, clinging to their own security. They know that self-enclosure, in all the many forms it takes, is the cause of so much apathy.
So let us go out, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ (Evangelii Gaudium, 49). The People of God can embrace everyone because we are the disciples of the One who knelt before his own to wash their feet (ibid., 24). The reason we are here today is that many other people wanted to respond to that call. They believed that “life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort” (Aparecida Document, 360).
We are heirs to the bold missionary spirit of so many men and women who preferred not to be “shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security … within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving” (Evangelii Gaudium, 49). We are indebted to a tradition, a chain of witnesses who have made it possible for the good news of the Gospel to be, in every generation, both “good” and “news”.
Today we remember one of those witnesses who testified to the joy of the Gospel in these lands, Father Junípero Serra. He was the embodiment of “a Church which goes forth”, a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling tenderness of God.
Junípero Serra left his native land and its way of life. He was excited about blazing trails, going forth to meet many people, learning and valuing their particular customs and ways of life. He learned how to bring to birth and nurture God’s life in the faces of everyone he met; he made them his brothers and sisters. Junípero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it. Mistreatment and wrongs which today still trouble us, especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.
Father Serra had a motto which inspired his life and work, a saying he lived his life by: siempre adelante! Keep moving forward! For him, this was the way to continue experiencing the joy of the Gospel, to keep his heart from growing numb, from being anesthetized. He kept moving forward, because the Lord was waiting. He kept going, because his brothers and sisters were waiting. He kept going forward to the end of his life. Today, like him, may we be able to say: Forward! Let’s keep moving forward!
10.21pm BST
22:21
First reading at the Mass & canonization of Junipero Serra was in chochenyo, a Native American language #PopeInDC pic.twitter.com/9P2myoWpPX
10.08pm BST
22:08
And just now from Halima Kazem, who is in California:
The basilica bells just rang, turning Carmel Mission into an official shrine of a saint.
Updated
at 10.12pm BST
10.06pm BST
22:06
Halima Kazem reports that anti-canonization protests have grown larger at the mission where newly-minted saint Junipero Serra is buried:
The circle of native Americans and their supporters is growing in the Mission Cemetery. There almost 40 protestors burning sage and sharing personal stories of how they discovered the dark history of the California missions.
“My family went into the basilica to take part in the Serra ceremony but I wanted to come in here and pray with you all,” a 17-year-old protester said. “California schools and even the Catholic school that my sister attends here don’t teach the real history of what happened to the native Americans.”
Caroline Ward Holland and her son Kagan arrived this morning at Mission Carmel after walking a 650-mile pilgrimage to each of the 21 California Missions, to “honor the Indigenous ancestors who suffered and perished in the Mission system and assert California Indian rejection of sainthood for Junipero Serra.”
“It was powerful to walk the paths that my ancestors walked but they walked with chains on and they were whipped by missionaries,” said Caroline Holland.
Bill Reichmuth, Mission Carmel’s deacon, walked by the native American protest after the service inside the basilica and asked a guard what the protesters were doing. He returned to the basilica without addressing the protesters.
Updated
at 10.15pm BST
10.01pm BST
22:01
Probably not the only one.
Wishing I had paid more attention in Spanish class about now #PopeInUS #PopeInDC
9.57pm BST
21:57
.@Cardinal_Wuerl asks @Pontifex is the church can proclaim controversial Fr. Junipero Serra's sainthood. Yes. pic.twitter.com/bvrYFGPRFo
9.54pm BST
21:54
Junipero Serra declared a saint
Pope Francis:
Having given mature deliberation and having begged the help of divine grace, and the opinion of many of our brothers, blessed Junipero Serra we discern and define to be a saint and we inscribe him in the catalogue of saints, establishing him in the universal church among the saints who should be appealed to with devotion.
And the relics are presented, including by a man wearing what appears to be Native American dress.
Updated
at 9.57pm BST
9.47pm BST
21:47
Now there’s a long litany of the saints, a repetitive sung prayer that invokes many saints to pray for the congregation. It’s in Latin, so the response ora pro nobis (pray for us) is sung after each name.
