The Free

Juníper Serra, who invented ‘mission’ camps of abuse, torture and mass murder of Natives… Now to be declared a SAINT by the Pope in Washington D.C.

Pope Defends ‘Missionary’ Who Brutally Converted Indigenous People To Christianity

Pope Francis on Saturday praised the zeal of an 18th-century Franciscan missionary he will make a saint when he visits the United States this fall but whom Native Americans say brutally converted indigenous people to Christianity.

Francis praised Junípero Serra during a homily at a Rome seminary training future priests from North America. The pope will proclaim the Spaniard a saint during a Washington, D.C., ceremony Sept. 23.