Indigenous Grandmothers nearly kicked out of Vatican

[Miguel Sague Jr]

Tau My Relatives Back in December Grandfather Don Alejandro
Perez Oxlaj, the Quiche Maya leader of Guatemala's Council of Elders
visited Pittsburgh and councelled with myself and several others
here accompanied by Grandmother Flordemayo, a member of the highly
respected and world-recognized COUNCIL OF THIRTEEN INDIGENOUS
GRANDMOTHERS. We were aware of the fact that Grandmother Flordemayo
was preparing to visit the vatican this summer with the other
grandmothers to present the Pope with demands for the revocation of
Papal bulls that officially sanctify and legitimize the horrors
visited on our Indigenous peoples during the Conquest of the
Americas.

We have learned that the grandmothers were harassed and almost
forcibly expelled from the Vatican by Vatican authorities.
Please read the following post taken from the internet.

Indigenous grandmas nearly kicked out of Vatican

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417739

by: Rob Capriccioso

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417739

Photo:

http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096417739_large.jpg

Photo courtesy Marisol Villanueava

Thirteen indigenous grandmothers, formally known as the
International Council of Thirteen Indigenous
Grandmothers, initial greeting at the Vatican was not pleasant. The
group was almost kicked out while performing a prayer and waiting to
speak with Pope Benedict XVI.

ROME - They went to pray. They went to see Pope Benedict XVI on his
home
turf. They went to ask that he rescind historic church doctrine that
played a role in the genocidal onslaught of millions of indigenous
people worldwide.

For 13 indigenous grandmothers, accomplishing only one of their three
goals wouldn't have been so bad - had they also not been harassed by
several Vatican policemen who claimed the women were conducting
''anti-Catholic'' demonstrations.

The elders, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen
Indigenous Grandmothers, convened in the morning hours of July 9 at
St.
Peter's Square. After setting up an altar cloth, candles and sacred
objects, including feathers and incense, they began holding a prayer
and
ceremony circle. Nine-year-old Davian Joell Stand-Gilpin, a direct
descendant of Chief Dull Knife of the Lakota Nation, was brought
along
by one of the grandmothers to participate in traditional regalia.

Soon, however, four Vatican police officials asked the women to stop
the
prayer ceremony, claiming their prayers were in contradiction to the
church's teachings - despite the two crosses on the alter cloth and
some
of the members being practitioners of the Catholic faith.

The officials told Carole Hart, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning
producer and filmmaker traveling with the grandmas, that the group
was
in violation of Vatican policy. They said a permit Hart had obtained
in
order to document the prayer gathering was only relevant in terms of
filming, but did not allow the women to pray, sing or burn incense.

The police said the actions of the grandmothers were ''idolatrous.''

Through the course of obtaining the permit, Hart had written to
Vatican
officials explaining that the grandmothers would be conducting a
prayer
ceremony at the site.

''We stuck to the fact that we were legitimately there with this
permit,'' Hart said. ''The grandmas did not back down.''

Still, the police urged the grandmothers to move on; but Hart and the
group appealed the decision to a higher authority. Finally, the
police
brought back a law official who assessed the situation. Upon seeing
13
indigenous elder women and hearing one of their songs, the official
concluded there was no problem with the ceremony.

The official also ultimately invited the grandmothers to enter St.
Peter's Basilica to rest and pray.

Despite their short-term success, the ultimate goal of the
grandmothers
- to hand-deliver a statement to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to
rescind several controversial papal bulls that played a part in the
colonization of indigenous lands - was thwarted.

Documents from the 15th century, such as the papal bulls, show the
papacy played a role in the genocidal onslaught that affected
millions
of indigenous people on the North American continent. In 1455, for
instance, Pope Nicolas authorized Portugal ''to invade, search out,
capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans'' who had
previously made their homes in North America.

Just a short time before the grandmothers left for their long-planned
journey to Rome, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be leaving
the Vatican to rest at his summer home, called Castel Gandolfo, in
preparation for a trip to Australia.

The pope had originally been scheduled to be in residence July 9.
Laura
Jackson, the grandmothers' publicist, described the pope's decision
to
leave the Vatican as a ''sudden cancellation'' and noted that the
grandmas held tickets to a scheduled public audience he was to have
held
that day.

While Castel Gandolfo is less than 20 miles away from the Vatican,
the
grandmothers ultimately decided not to make the journey to the pope's
summer getaway despite some in their inner circle encouraging them to
pay an unexpected visit.

Hart believes the grandmothers chose to focus on St. Peter's Square
because it's part of the Vatican and is a strong symbol of the pope.

''As women of prayer, I think they felt that bringing their prayer
there, on the very ground on which the church as an institution
stands,
as close as they could get to the heart of the church, would have a
great effect on what will happen next,'' Hart said. Additionally, the
women had no guarantee that they would even be able to enter the
grounds
of the pope's summer residence.

Instead, the elders left a package with one of the pope's personal
guards at the Vatican. The package contained a written statement the
women had sent to the Vatican in 2005 decrying the papal bulls, to
which
the Vatican never responded. It also contained a new 632-word
statement
to the pope asking him to repeal three Christian-based doctrines of
''discovery'' and ''conquest'' that set a foundation for claiming
lands
occupied by indigenous people around the world.

''We carry this message for Pope Benedict XVI, traveling with the
spirits of our ancestors,'' the women said in their new
message. ''While
praying at the Vatican for peace, we are praying for all peoples. We
are
here at the Vatican, humbly, not as representatives of indigenous
nations, but as women of prayer.''

The package was given to the pope's guard via a traditional Lakota
manner, by extending it to him three times with him then accepting
it on
the fourth attempt. The entire process was captured on film, and is
expected to be made into a documentary by Hart in the coming year.

It is unknown whether the pope has yet personally received the
package,
but legal scholars and Native activists in the U.S. have nonetheless
been paying close attention to the grandmothers' journey.

''I think the trip is very significant,'' said Steven Newcomb,
co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute and author of the book,
''Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian
Discovery,'' and an Indian Country Today columnist.

''These are women who are very much grounded in their own languages
and
traditions. They're able to raise visibility of the issue in ways
that
others are perhaps less effective.''

The grandmothers from the U.S. who sit on the women's council are
Margaret Behan, of the Arapaho/Cheyenne of Montana; Agnes Baker
Pilgrim,
of the Takelma Siletz; and Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance and Rita
Long Visitor Holy Dance, both Oglala Lakota of Black Hills, S.D.

All of the grandmothers are currently in private council in Assisi,
Italy, and are expected to be returning home by early August.