Pope appears to back native tribes in Dakota Pipeline conflict
Source: Reuters
Wed Feb 15, 2017 | 9:57am EST
By Philip Pullella | VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis appeared on Wednesday to back Native Americans seeking to halt part of the Dakota Access Pipeline, saying indigenous cultures have a right to defend "their ancestral relationship to the earth".
The Latin American pope, who has often strongly defended indigenous rights since his election in 2013, made his comments on protection of native lands to representative of tribes attending the Indigenous Peoples Forum in Rome.
While he did not name the pipeline, he used strong and clear language applicable to the conflict, saying development had to be reconciled with "the protection of the particular characteristics of indigenous peoples and their territories".
Francis spoke two days after a U.S. federal judge denied a request by tribes to halt construction of the final link of the project that sparked months of protests by activists aimed at stopping the 1,170-mile line.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-north-dakota-pipeline-pope-idUSKBN15U1VA?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
= new reply since forum marked as read
"We call upon the people of conscience in the Roman Catholic hierarchy to persuade (the) Pope to formally revoke the Inter Cetera Bull of May 4, 1493, which will restore our fundamental human rights.
"That Papal document called for our Nations and Peoples to be subjugated so the Christian Empire and its doctrines would be propagated.
"The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Johnson v. McIntosh 8 Wheat 543 (in 1823) adopted the same principle of subjugation expressed in the Inter Cetera Bull. This Papal Bull has been, and continues to be, devastating to our religions, our cultures, and the survival of our populations..."
https://www.manataka.org/page155.html
Pope Francis: Native people have rights over their lands
Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Updated 9:26 am, Wednesday, February 15, 2017
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis insisted Wednesday that indigenous groups must give prior consent to any economic activity affecting their ancestral lands, a view that conflicts with the Trump administration, which is pushing to build a $3.8 billion oil pipeline over opposition from American Indians.
Francis met with representatives of indigenous peoples attending a U.N. agricultural meeting and said the key issue facing them is how to reconcile the right to economic development with protecting their cultures and territories.
"In this regard, the right to prior and informed consent should always prevail," he said. "Only then is it possible to guarantee peaceful cooperation between governing authorities and indigenous peoples, overcoming confrontation and conflict."
The Cheyenne River and the Standing Rock Sioux tribes have sued to stop construction on the final stretch of the Dakota Access pipeline, which would bring oil from North Dakota's rich Bakken fields across four states to a shipping point in Illinois.
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Pope-Francis-wades-into-US-oil-pipeline-dispute-10933784.php#item-38488
