During the Holy Father’s recent visit to Canada, he could be seen wearing a Native American headdress. The event has been heavily criticised by both Catholics and the Native American community, but there is precedence for the Pope’s actions. The Jesuit order, founded by St Ignatius of Loyola whose feast we celebrated yesterday, is the order Pope Francis belongs to, and they have a long history of integrating into the cultures they encounter.
When the Jesuits reached Asia they would often adopt local clothing to better integrate into the culture they visited. Part of the reason for this was to win the heart and trust of locals in order to convert them. They also went the extra mile, studying Confucian philosophy if they had to, for example, and finding ways in which that ancient school of thought was compatible with Christianity. As an old cliché goes: we must meet people where they are, not where they are not.
The line of thought was that if people were accustomed to Confucian philosophy, then let us find a way of explaining our Creed in their language. There is more than mere marketing and tactics at play though, as the Church teaches Truth, and anything that is true must conform to the One Truth. Hence, if we can find Truth in other forms of thought, we should use them to lead minds to the fullness of Truth. In this, the Jesuits excelled, succeeding in converting large parts of the world.
A different question altogether arises when we look at the meaning of symbolism detached from any greater end. The Jesuits of old did not sport Confucian garb merely to look like the people they encountered. Such a move might strike the wrong tone, risking alienating the very people one seeks to unite with. Clothes, much like any other symbol, carry a language, and that language has its own context and grammar. Wearing local garb in the effort to be a part of something greater while retaining one’s particular customs is surely different to bringing that item of clothing home and claiming it as one’s own.
When Pope Francis was seen wearing the Native headdress, it was taken as “cultural appropriation,” on top of an already rather sore relationship between the Native Americans and Christianity. The Holy Father was not wearing the headdress in an effort to acculturate, however, nor does he seem to have had much of a choice when offered it by Native Americans themselves.
The story gets blown out of proportion and takes on meanings it may not have been intended to carry. Yet, symbols are conveyors of meaning and there is a balance that needs to be struck. I suspect there would have been just as much outrage if the Pope refused to wear the headdress. Perhaps we are best leaving culturally specific clothing to those who lay a rightful claim on them. But then again, the line will surely be shown to be blurrier than we originally thought. Imagine a world where only Americans wore blue jeans.
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