Progressivism in the Church
Church Revolution in Pictures
Photo of the Week
Francis blesses coca leaves, base for cocaine
As it is known, cocaine is extracted from the leaves of coca. The Quechuas Indians of Argentina have a tradition of chewing and smoking those leaves as a psychotropic stimulus. Because of the exhilaration the drug produces, they mistakenly believe that the leaves are divine and, consequently, they adore the coca plant as a god.On June 9, 2014, Pope Francis received a delegation of Argentinian Indians at the Apostolic Palace – incidentally, not at the Casa Santa Marta... They presented to him several sacks of leaves of coca and products manufactured from the latter for pagan idolatric purposes.
Francis went on to bless all those sacks – as shown above and in the first three rows below – thus giving an indirect, but powerful, support for the use of the drug.
Besides this symbolic encouragement, it is also worth noting that the leader of the delegation was Milagro Sala, the president of the Tupac Amaru organization in Argentina, which builds houses for the socially and economically marginalized. One hero of the movement is Ché Guevara, the communist guerilla, second only to the rebel Indian Tupac Amaru, from whom the association takes its name.
This organization takes a strong pro-homosexual stance. Recent evidence of this include:
1. Delivering more than 100 houses to LBTG people on June 4, 2014 (for a news report in Spanish, check here);
2. The promotion of a 'Gay Pride Parade' on June 29, 2014, in San Salvador de Jujuy, where Tupac Amaru has its headquarters (click here and here).
These blatant shows of support for homosexuality – so soon before and after being received by Francis – makes us wonder if the rainbow-colored scarf Milagro Sala wore at the papal audience was not another manifestation of her backing for homosexuals, rather than an Indian decoration. They also suggest that Francis knew about this overt position of the movement, and gave another implicit encouragement to it.
In the three first rows below, Francis is blessing each of the trays with coca leaves – the video from which these photos were taken can be viewed here. In the fourth row is a Quechua Indian commencing her "contact with the gods" by smoking a coca cigarette.
In the fifth, sixth and seventh rows, Francis giving prestige and kisses to Milagro Sala. In the eighth row, Milagro Sala speaks under a banner of Ché Guevara, who is portrayed on the movement's banner, along with Eva Peron and the Indian Tupac Amaru, ninth row.
Posted July 6, 2014
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