The new Pope so far has been better than the last couple of Popes. However, some priests from California deceived and pressured him into making Father Serra a saint. He was a saint for Lucifer! Millions of Native Americans died because of him. Native American groups have been upset by the callous making this monster into a saint. Father Serra was the head of the evil Spanish Inquisition here in the West. He was known for self  inflicting beatings on himself and so thought nothing about the brutal beating of heathens. Native Americans in California were forced to give up their religions either by threat of death or by beatings. They were forced to build the missions and work in the mission fi
elds. They were forced to wear clothes even in the terrible heat. Califor-nia, Oregon and Washington had the largest populations of Native Americans in the U.S.A. Most of them either died of depression and disease or were hunted down and murdered. The treatment by the early priests here in Cal-ifornia of Native Americans was deplorable. The treat-ment of Indians by many early Protestants was usually also just as terrible. It was the prejudiced way that White Americans used to view Native Americans in those times. In the minds of the early California priests it was better a dead Injun than a heathen going to hell. Many Native Americans and many other people are sure that Father Serra also made it to hell.

• Martin Sampson