FROM THE ARCHIVE
Anti-Indian cited in saint debate
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2002

Pope John Paul II is ready to make Juan Diego, an Aztec Indian man renowned for his vision of the Virgin Mary, a saint but some aren't ready to accept someone whose story they call a fantasy.

But those critics are anti-Indian, charge Juan Diego's supporters. Monsignor Jose Luis Guerrero, a leading Diego expert, told The Washington Post: "They can't understand how an Indian, who was nothing, could ever have been chosen by God."

Guerrero also says critics have unfairly dismissed a document written in Nahuatl, an Aztec language, about the Virgin's appearances before Diego

Juan Diego would be the first indigenous person recognized as a saint. American Indians in the United States are trying to get Kateri Tekakwitha canonized.

The Mohawk woman has been beatified, a step before full sainthood.

Get the Story:
Myth Versus Miracle (The Washington Post 2/5)

Relevant Links:
Kateri Info - http://www.expage.com/page/stkateri
Kateri Resources - http://home.att.net/~danderson.halliwell/pages/nacr.html

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Kateri conference gets underway (8/4)
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