{"id":235737,"date":"2025-05-14T08:06:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T12:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=235737"},"modified":"2025-05-14T08:36:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T12:36:38","slug":"leo-xiv-a-mestizo-pope-for-a-universal-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2025\/05\/14\/leo-xiv-a-mestizo-pope-for-a-universal-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Leo XIV, a mestizo Pope for a universal church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In an editorial on 13 May 2025, Diario Libre executive editor Anibal de Castro focuses on the reality that the DR is a mixed race and ancestry country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editorialist writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe election of Leo XIV as Supreme Pontiff has brought about more than just a name change at the Vatican summit. It has brought to the surface a history that many would prefer to ignore: the multiple, complex, and in this case, mestizo origins of the new leader of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that the Pope has Dominican blood and Afro-descendant Creole heritage and that one of his grandfathers was classified as “black” in 19th-century America, should not cause much surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it does: unfortunately, we continue to drag along a cultural discomfort \u2014a visceral resistance\u2014 to accept that the Dominican, the Catholic, and the universal can simultaneously be black, mestizo, Creole, and proudly diverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case of Leo XIV confirms that origins do not hinder destiny unless we decide to deny them or be ashamed of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dominican Republic is mulatto by statistics, by history, and by vocation. We are a nation woven with African, European, and Taino threads, and the attempt to uniform our identity under a single race, creed, or language is a symbolic mutilation that impoverishes everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stigmatizing someone’s color, last name, accent, or faith is a subtle\u2014and dangerous\u2014form of hate. And hate, even when disguised as defense of the homeland or order, is always contrary to the faith we claim to profess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo XIV, grandson of a Dominican tobacco worker and heir to a black, Catholic family from New Orleans, perhaps also Haitian, embodies that mixture that irritates purists and gives hope to those who believe in mixed ancestry and race as a plus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May his story serve as a reminder of who we are\u2014without shame or fear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

14 May 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an editorial on 13 May 2025, Diario Libre executive editor Anibal de Castro focuses on the reality that the DR is a mixed race and ancestry country. The editorialist writes: \u201cThe election of Leo XIV as Supreme Pontiff has brought about more than just a name change at the Vatican summit. It has brought … <\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[337,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235737"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235790,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235737\/revisions\/235790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}