The fruitfulness of the evangelization of America.
Judeo-Christianity is the most beneficial transforming force in history. If we focus on the last two millennia, Christianity has had three stellar moments of special renewing fecundity: its beginnings, when it transformed the vast Roman Empire; the Middle Ages, when it forged the Christian civilization that lasted about a thousand years; and finally, the integral evangelization of the American peoples since the end of the 15th century. We make these affirmations with our eyes on the wheat, not on the tares: we know that they grow together and that only the Lord has the final judgment; meanwhile, historians have the right – and the duty – to unravel, as far as possible, sine ira et studio, black legends, and pink legends; but Catholics have the right to show the fruits of the Holy Spirit, especially as regards the impoverished: that is what we are dealing with in this issue.
Key to a feat inspired by the Holy Spirit
In a few generations, a territory much larger than the one that contained – until then – the faith of Christ is being evangelized and transformed. And it is done, in most cases, peacefully and naturally. It embraced a variety of ethnicities, cultures, and languages so different that it demanded an incredible versatility and willingness to incarnate. There are the saints and martyrs to testify to this. It was not an evangelization of elites; it was, fundamentally, the evangelization of the humble.
“We must cultivate a certain sensitivity that makes us reject human methods in order to accept supernatural tricks, […]. To occupy the first place, the trick is to grab onto the last. The trick to all victory is to accept humiliation and death. To dominate, the trick is to serve and love, and not just any way, but like Christ. To achieve a great personality (divine, no less) the trick is to deny oneself”. (Guillermo Rovirosa)
The results are difficult to contradict: in the lands from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, there was inner peace until the 19th century, a century in which all kinds of internal wars began, precisely when another culture opposed to the Catholic Christian one was artificially grafted (through bourgeois elites linked to Freemasonry and the Anglo-Saxon capitalist mentality).
This Catholic peace translated into real progress: the first universities outside Europe were in these American lands, and the best health systems (in Lima in the 17th century there was one hospital bed for every 100 inhabitants), education, and communication. The Catholic mentality stamped its seal on essential aspects: the conviction that the Americans had the same dignity as the Spaniards and were equal before the law; this led to the normalization of miscegenation from the first moment. The American lands were as much a part of the Crown as those of Castile, with the same rights and duties.
The truly Catholic evangelization -again the wheat and the tares- embraced all the good in other cultures, starting from their idiosyncrasy, language, and customs to elevate and improve them. An example: it was Dominican friars who elaborated the first Quechua grammar 20 years before the English language had its own. Evangelization was done in the native languages.
Mestizaje allowed evangelization from and through the family, which is the most peaceful and lasting way to achieve conversion since faith is transmitted naturally in the home to the next generation. In addition, the Spanish evangelizers were supported and sustained by sincere and devoutly Catholic kings who, in collaboration with the papacy, promoted laws for the defense of the Indigenous people with a very clear Christian inspiration. In this sense, the reform of the clergy was decisive, especially the bishops, promoted both by important Catholic groups and by Isabella the Catholic herself, supported by Cardinal Cisneros; two important institutions helped decisively: the University of Salamanca and the University of Alcalá de Henares.
Nor should we forget the Marian roots of Catholicism, since the Virgin Mary is the best reflection of divine Mercy among us, and -as she did in the early Church- she summoned all the peoples of America in unity to receive the Holy Spirit. This is how the poor understood it and continue to venerate her with genuine devotion.
Signs of hope should also be present for migrants who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and for their families. Their expectations must not be frustrated by prejudice and rejection. A spirit of welcome, which embraces everyone with respect for his or her dignity, should be accompanied by a sense of responsibility, lest anyone be denied the right to a dignified existence.
Message from Pope Francis in the Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the year 2025, Hope does not disappoint.