Nihil Obstat

Pious Trash: Cardinal Koch on Amazonian Natives

This week’s Pious Trash quote comes from Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, 69, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.  Cardinal Koch participated in last month’s Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazonian region because of his position as head of a Vatican dicastery. 

“Evangelization always needs inculturation, so that the Gospel will be understood in different cultures,” Cardinal Kurt Koch told EWTN News Oct. 23.

“But I think we must see two things,” he continued, “first of all, inculturation, and on the other side purification of the culture, because not all things in other cultures are good.”

“We have different challenges and different problems and we must have a clear discernment of spirit of what we can accept and receive from these cultures for the better understanding of the Gospel; and on the other hand we must purify something in this culture.”

The cardinal added that he has asked the group what are the elements of the native Amazonian cultures which need purified but “I haven’t received a clear answer.”

Hmmmm. Cardinal Koch needs to reflect on the mercantile cultures operating in the Amazon—American, European, Brazilian. Most if not all of them are owned and operated by Catholics and other Christians. Do they need some purification?