"SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia and the Vatican
both sought Thursday to tamp down
controversy over President Evo
Morales' gift of a "Communist crucifix" to Pope Francis, insisting that
no offense was intended or taken by the gesture.
Morales
gave Francis the crucifix carved into a hammer and sickle upon Francis'
arrival in Bolivia Wednesday, immediately raising eyebrows given
Morales' past attacks on the church and his socialist bent. Critics said
it was a distasteful, and possibly heretical melding of faith and
ideology.
It turns out, the crucifix was
originally designed by a Jesuit activist, the Rev. Luis Espinal, who was
assassinated in 1980 by suspected Bolivian paramilitaries during the
months that preceded a military coup. Francis, a fellow Jesuit, stopped
his motorcade to pray at the site where Espinal's body had been dumped
when he arrived Wednesday.
The Vatican
spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Thursday the pope had no
idea that Espinal had designed the crucifix and was surprised to receive
it — a reaction clearly visible in the footage of the encounter. Some
reports suggested the pope told Morales "This isn't good;" one of
Francis' friends sent a tweet quoting him as saying such. But Lombardi
said it wasn't known what the pope had said." Frontpage
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes:
Proverbs 12:15
