Europe is not Christianity, the Pope is not God

Chelsey 2021-12-21 08:01:25

Like in China, in Latin America, Christianity also entered with the guns of Western powers and greedy colonists. Although they came in at the same time, they still had clear barriers. Missionaries are Christianized by the desire to bring the gospel to the natives who are regarded as animals by the colonized because of their love and faith. The colonists of Spain and Portugal, although nominally claiming to be Catholics, are the greedy and cruel sons of Satan in their bones; they used the power of the Pope in Europe to force the Catholics to abandon their slaughter and aggression against the Indians. In the end, although the church represented by the Pope compromised and handed over the innocent Indians to the colonists, the monks who preached among the natives went against the church, which claimed to be "the agent of God in the world," and stayed to meet with the natives. Against the guns of the European colonists, some monks chose to fight back with violence, and some chose to hold the cross and walk towards the guns of the colonists. Watching a monk leading the unarmed Indians to the invading colonists, falling one by one in a pool of blood, that kind of power from faith surpassed violence.

The film also implicitly satirizes the Catholic official’s compromise with colonial power. In Europe, the pope had to compromise on Indian matters in order to embrace the spheres of influence of various countries, and handed the interests of the Indians to the colonists, thinking that he was. In order to preserve the whole, some parts are cut off, but will the stability gained through the principle of compromising faith last? The interests of the Indians became a bargaining chip in the contest between religious rights and secular rights.

This movie not only tells us that Europe does not represent Christianity, but also tells us that the pope and bishop, the entire Catholic bureaucracy, cannot represent Christinianty, let alone God. So when Mondusar prayed for the priest's blessing, the priest who was determined to obey the authority of the church refused to give him blessings, but said a thought-provoking sentence: "If you do the right thing, God will definitely bless him. If it's not right, God will bless him." , My blessing is meaningless.” This sentence has shaken the Catholic Church’s position as the plenipotentiary agent of God on earth.

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Extended Reading

The Mission quotes

  • Cabeza: I cannot and will not accept a challenge from a priest. His cloth protects him.

    Mendoza: My cloth protects *you*!

  • [Last Lines]

    Altamirano: [spoiler] So, your Holiness, now your priests are dead, and I am left alive. But in truth it is I who am dead, and they who live. For as always, your Holiness, the spirit of the dead will survive in the memory of the living.

    [/spoiler]