During his first papal visit to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday acknowledged the "injustices" endured by Native people.
Benedict said Native people and Africans who were brought to the U.S. as slaves were denied freedom and opportunity. But he said there was "hope" for the future.
"This is an historic moment for Indian Country," National Congress of American Indians President Joe Garcia said in response. "I commend Pope Benedict XVI for making this bold, and very true, statement with the world watching. Native people have suffered greatly since the arrival of European settlers as they were displaced and then later subjected to U.S. government policies of termination and assimilation."
The comments stood in contrast to those the pope made during a visit to Brazil a year ago. He said the ancestors of Native people welcomed Europeans because they were "silently longing" for Christianity.
He also suggested that Christianity was not detrimental to Indian culture. "In effect, the proclamation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre-Columbus cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture," he said.
Get the Story:Excerpts: 'Americans . . . a people of hope' (The Washington Post 4/18)
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