the faith of the grandmothers carries the Gospel to all cultures

On the pilgrimage to Lake Santa Ana, Francis paid homage to the maternal face of inculturation. “In Guadalupe it was also the Mother who spoke to the Indians in her language, without violence or impositions.” “We need a Church that does not go against anyone but goes out to meet everyone.”

Edmonton () – The inculturation of faith has a maternal face. And there has not been a single moment in the history of the Church in which it has not spoken the language of the grandmothers, Pope Francis said last night in a new stage of his pilgrimage among the indigenous peoples of Canada. After celebrating Mass in the morning in the great Edmonton stadium before more than 50,000 people, in the afternoon – on the feast of Saints Anne and Joachim – he went on a pilgrimage to Lake Santa Ana, a place of great importance in the spirituality of the natives of Canada. And also a privileged place to address the theme of the encounter between the Gospel and the cultures of peoples from all over the world.

The Pope related this lake to the one Jesus crossed many times in the “Galilee of the Gentiles”, “the place farthest, geographically and culturally, from religious purity, which was concentrated in Jerusalem where the temple was”. “Then we can imagine that lake -he commented- as a condensation of differences: fishermen and tax collectors, centurions and slaves, Pharisees and poor people met on its shores, men and women of the most varied origins and social strata met there. And precisely in that place Jesus preached the Kingdom of God: not to selected religious, but to people from different towns who came from different parts. Like today, to everyone and in a natural theater like this one”. “Precisely that lake, ‘miscegenation of diversity,’ became the site of an unprecedented announcement of fraternity, of a revolution without deaths and injuries, the revolution of love.” Because “fraternity is true if it unites those who are far away”.

And in the name of Saint Anne, Pope Francis wanted to especially highlight the role of women in that fraternity: “In indigenous communities they occupy an important place as blessed sources of life, not only physical but also spiritual. Thinking of your kokum, I also remember my grandmother. From her I received the first announcement of the faith and I learned that the Gospel is transmitted in this way, through the tenderness and wisdom of life”.

Mothers and grandmothers are also the ones who help heal the wounds of the heart. “During the drama of the conquest -he recalled- it was the Virgin of Guadalupe who transmitted the upright faith to the indigenous people, speaking their language and wearing their clothes, without violence and without impositions. And shortly after, with the arrival of the printing press, the first grammars and catechisms in indigenous languages ​​were published. How much good authentically evangelizing missionaries have done in many parts of the world in this regard to preserve indigenous languages ​​and cultures.”

This is what “maternal inculturation” consists of. Because “also the Church -said the pontiff- is a woman and a mother. In fact, there has never been a moment in its history when the faith has not been transmitted in the mother tongue, by mothers and grandmothers. Part of the painful legacy that we are facing – he added referring to the tragedy of child abuse committed during forced assimilation in boarding schools – comes from having prevented indigenous grandmothers from transmitting the faith in their own language and culture”.

Rediscovering that face also means acknowledging that “all of us, as a Church, need healing: healing ourselves from the temptation to close in on ourselves, to choose the defense of the institution rather than the search for truth, to prefer worldly power to evangelical service. Let us help each other, dear brothers and sisters, to give our contribution to build with God’s help a mother Church as He likes, that knows how to embrace each son and daughter, open to all and that speaks to each one; not to go against anyone, but to meet everyone “.

“Too often – added Francesco – we allow ourselves to be guided by the interests of a few who are doing well; we must look more to the peripheries and listen to the cry of the last; to be able to listen to the pain of those who, often in silence, shout in our overcrowded and depersonalized cities: ‘Don’t leave us alone!’ It is the cry of the elderly who are at risk of dying alone at home or abandoned in a center, or of uncomfortable patients who, instead of love, are given death. It is the muffled cry of the boys and girls more questioned than listened to, who delegate their freedom to a mobile phone, while others of the same age wander through the same streets lost, anesthetized for some fun, prey to addictions that make them sad and intolerant. , unable to believe in themselves, to love who they are and the beauty of the life they have.

“Dear indigenous brothers and sisters – the Pope concluded – I have also come as a pilgrim to tell you how valuable you are to me and to the Church. I want the Church to be intertwined with you, tied as tightly as the threads of the colorful sashes many of you wear. May the Lord help us move forward in the healing process, towards an increasingly healthy and renewed future.”