California’s history can’t be told without Junipero Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan missionary who introduced Christianity and established settlements as he marched north with Spanish conquistadores. Boulevards, public squares, freeways and elementary schools bear his name. A 26-foot statue of the priest looms over Interstate 280 in San Francisco.
He is revered within the Catholic Church, and Pope Francis announced recently that he will canonize Serra, likely during a trip to Washington, D.C., this fall. That pronouncement has opened old wounds for many Native Americans in California and beyond. They say Serra wiped out native populations, enslaved converts and spread disease.
Since Francis’ announcement, Indian groups have staged weekly protests, posted YouTube videos and started an online petition demanding the pope rethink his decision. At rallies outside Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles, about a dozen protesters wore black T-shirts and beat drums while chanting “Serra was no saint! Serra was the devil!” and holding signs that compared the missionary’s actions to genocide.
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“People have a right to be angry and be concerned about all this and yet this canonization is going to go forward,” said Dr. Jeffery Burns, director of the Academy of American Franciscan History.
“By making Serra a saint, we shouldn’t be affirming that everything he did was right,” he said. “I think this uproar offers a unique opportunity to Pope Francis and the bishops of California to really own up to this and begin a process of reconciliation.”
