The president of Mexico published an open letter to Pope Francis on Saturday, asking the Roman Catholic Church to apologize for the abuse of indigenous peoples during Mexico’s conquest in the 1500s.
In the letter, President Andr્રેસs Manuel Lપેpez Obrador also asks the pope to provide documents from the ancient Hispanic Mexican or colonial era in Mexico.
“The Catholic Church, the Spanish monarchy and the Mexican government should publicly apologize for the aggression they have inflicted on the indigenous people,” the letter said.
Mexican President Manuel Lpez Obrador is speaking during a rally in his office on Sunday, December 1, in Mexico City, in the capital’s main plaza, Jocalo, to celebrate his one-year anniversary. (AP Photo / Marco Ugarte)
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L લpez Obrador asked the pope to make a statement in favor of Miguel Hidalgo, a 19th-century Mexican independent leader who was once thought to have been expelled by the church for his involvement in the uprising. However, investigators later said that it appears that Hidalgo confessed his sins before he was hanged and therefore did not exclude him.
López Obrador said: “I think it will be an act of humility and at the same time greatness” Church for eternity reconciliation with Hidalgo.
He was blessed by Pope Francis as he listened to the Angeles afternoon prayer from the window of his studio on September 20, 2020, overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (AP Photo / Andrew Medichini)
The letter comes as Mexico struggles over how to mark the 500th anniversary of the 1519-1521 conquest, which resulted in the death of a large part of the country’s former Hispanic population.
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In 2019, López Obrador apologized to Spain for the victory, in which millions of Indigenous people died of violence and disease.
Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said at the time that Spain “will not apologize for what has been requested. ‘
