Association of Tribal Governments Letter Opposing Serra Sainthood

The California Association of Tribal Governments has written a letter to Richard Garcia, Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey, Ca., “with our hope and prayers that someone with influence within the Catholic Church may advise his Holiness Pope Francis to reevaluate his decision to canonize Friar Junipero Serra,” and asking for a meeting to reevaluate the church’s relationship with the families of all California Indians taken to the missions where they were enslaved. In addition, the letter states: “It is essential that his Holiness Pope Francis rescind the a Papal Bulls that comprise the Doctrine of Discovery.”