• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Argentine President Alberto Fernández speaks during a news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 9, 2021. (CNS photo/Agustin Marcarian, Reuters)

Argentine bishops’ pastoral team rebukes president on country’s origins

June 15, 2021
By David Agren
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

MEXICO CITY (CNS) — The Argentine bishops’ pastoral team for aboriginal peoples rebuked comments from the country’s president that perpetuated the viewpoint that the population predominantly arrived “on ships” from Europe.

President Alberto Fernández, appearing June 9 with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, repeated the line of an old song — which he erroneously attributed to Mexican writer Octavio Paz — “Mexicans came from the Indians, Brazilians from the jungle and we Argentines on ships … from Europe.”

The comments provoked strong reactions throughout Latin America, where many people’s ancestry are from Indigenous, European or African roots — and often a mix of these ethnicities. It also revealed opinions on how Argentines often see themselves as the product of mass immigration from Europe — especially Italy and including Pope Francis’ family — in the early 1900s.

In a statement June 10, the bishops’ National Aboriginal Pastoral Team, said, “The imaginary White European as the only model in the Americas provokes a wound which continues being open. And the reiteration of this ethnocentric model reproduces the mythical idea of a hegemonic Argentina. The reality of an ancestral Argentina, which is Indigenous and multicultural, emerges from the same history.”

For his part, Fernández offered apologies for his remarks, which he said were not meant to offend. But he also offered a further explanation.

“In the first half of the 20th century, we received more than 5 million immigrants, who lived together with our original peoples,” he tweeted June 10. “Our diversity is a point of pride.”

He wasn’t the first Argentine president to speak of the country’s population coming across the ocean on ships, according to the National Aboriginal Pastoral Team.

“The unfortunate phrase makes invisible the Original Communities’ years of struggle for respect of their identity and the right to their territories, which in recent years have been gaining worldwide recognition,” the team’s statement said.

The Indigenous population of Argentina numbers 955,032 in 35 ethnic groups, according to the most recent census — about 2.1% of the country’s population of 45.1 million.

Also see

Trump administration to appeal after judge blocks ICE detentions based on race

Juneteenth

Juneteenth seen as day to reflect on freedom, ending racism and Black Catholics’ contributions

Is immigration history in the United States cyclical?

Our heart of darkness

Dean of Georgetown Law says interim U.S. attorney’s DEI threat attacks its Catholic mission

Rev. King’s legacy involves ‘uniting our nation as one community of hope,’ cardinal says

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

David Agren

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • superman Movie Review: Superman

  • Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

  • DUAL ENROLLMENT Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

| Latest Local News |

Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter

Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86

| Latest World News |

Poll: Record-high percentage of U.S. adults say immigration good for country

Patriarchs support Christian communities attacked by Israeli settlers in solidarity visit

Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break

1 officer dead, 3 seminarians kidnapped after attack on Nigerian seminary

Trump administration to appeal after judge blocks ICE detentions based on race

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Poll: Record-high percentage of U.S. adults say immigration good for country
  • Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 
  • Patriarchs support Christian communities attacked by Israeli settlers in solidarity visit
  • Pope Leo visits Italian Carabinieri station, Poor Clares during summer break
  • 1 officer dead, 3 seminarians kidnapped after attack on Nigerian seminary
  • Trump administration to appeal after judge blocks ICE detentions based on race
  • Remember common decency in immigration enforcement
  • Sponsors – for life
  • Listen for God this summer

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en