(CNN) To some, he's a hero.

A Spanish priest who initiated the building of the missions that line California and remain a top tourist attraction. An evangelist deemed so great that Pope Francis officially declared him a saint.

But as much as he's revered in some quarters, Junipero Serra is reviled in others.

Because when the Spanish armies and Catholic missionaries came to take the West, they imposed their religion upon an indigenous people.

They decimated the native population several times over.

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