From Domination to Dialogue: Theological Transformations in Catholic–Indigenous Relations in Latin America

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyze the relationship between the Christian faith and the spiritual traditions of the indigenous peoples of Latin America, seeking to identify elements that make it possible to trace paths of dialogue and mutual cooperation. It shows that historically, there have been tensions and conflicts between these traditions, but today, there is a path towards overcoming this reality through social solidarity, which serves as a basis for dialogue between the ways of believing. The research method is comparative and involves a qualitative analysis of the bibliography dealing with the relationship between the Church and Latin American indigenous spiritualities. The bibliographic base is documental, with emphasis on the conferences of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), the Synod for the Amazon (2019) and the magisterium of Pope Francis, read from the perspective of the Second Vatican Council and the current theology of religions. The conclusion is that the Church is developing an important social dialogue to promote justice and the rights of indigenous peoples. This dialogue serves as the basis for a dialogue with the beliefs and spiritualities of these peoples. The challenge for this is to review mission objectives and methods in order to overcome the conversionist perspective in the relationship with indigenous peoples, taking paths of mutual respect and acceptance and valuing them beyond being the recipients of evangelization. In this way, indigenous spiritual traditions can be recognized not only as “seeds” of the Word to be developed by evangelization but as an already mature fruit of God’s relationship with these peoples.

1. Introduction

With the Christian missionaries who arrived in Latin America in the 16th century, the Church came into contact with the spiritual traditions of the indigenous peoples. This contact was influenced by the colonizers’ conquering project, which also led to tensions and conflicts between the Church’s mission—from a conversionist perspective and based on an exclusivist theology—and indigenous spiritual traditions and wisdom. Over time, changes in the Church opened up new possibilities for new relationships with indigenous peoples, with an attitude of recognizing their riches and engaging in dialogue. This gained momentum with the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and its reception in Latin America, especially through the assemblies of the Latin American Bishops’ Council.

In this research, we want to investigate how the Roman Catholic Church, hereafter, the Church, relates to indigenous belief systems in Latin America today. The structure of our study is made up of four sections: First, we present a general characterization of indigenous peoples. The intention is not to deal with all the socio-cultural aspects of these peoples, which would simply be impossible within the limits of an article. We just want to present traits that socially situate their spiritual wisdom. This serves as a basis for the second section to show how the Christian faith relates to their belief systems, moving from pre-conciliar conversionism to a dialogical stance with the advent of Vatican II in the 20th century. The third section takes up elements of the ecclesial magisterium that support a positive interaction between the Church and the Christian faith and indigenous peoples, in a co-responsibility with their struggles for the defense of their territories, their cultures and the affirmation of their own human dignity. In the fourth section, we show how inter-religious dialogue contributes to this, identifying elements in indigenous spiritual traditions that enable reciprocity and complementarity with the Christian faith.

The conclusion is that cooperation is the best way for the Church to relate to indigenous spiritual traditions on the Latin American continent. For the Latin American bishops gathered at the Santo Domingo Conference, it is a question of “a respectful, frank and fraternal dialogue that makes it possible to grow in the critical knowledge of their cultures […] welcoming with appreciation their symbols, rites and religious expressions compatible with the clear sense of faith” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 248). This means that indigenous peoples are not only recipients of the Church’s evangelization but also offer important contributions in the search for the meaning of all reality. These contributions can be gleaned from indigenous spiritual experiences, which need to be recognized today as “seeds” that have already matured from the Word, and are, therefore, already fruits of Christ’s grace working beyond the Church. So, if on the one hand they “prepare” for the Gospel, on the other they are also expressions of a Gospel of their own, as good news of a dignified life, which is fulfilled in the “abundance” (Jn 10:10) of the Good Life and the Land Without Evil, where justice and peace reign, which for Christian people happens in the welcoming of Jesus Christ and his Kingdom. In order to understand this, the Church is challenged to take effective steps in dialogue with indigenous spiritual wisdom, living out what it proposes about religious freedom (Dignitatis humanae), inter-religious dialogue (Nostra aetate), respect, peaceful coexistence and cooperation in building universal human fraternity (Fratelli tutti) and care for the Common (Laudato Si’).

2. On the Research Method

The method used in this research is comparative, with a qualitative analysis of the literature on the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and indigenous peoples. The comparative method makes it possible to establish parallels between different realities in order to verify both the differences and the similarities or attunements between them (Franco 2000; Tares Silva 2016; Caïs 1997). And qualitative analysis makes it possible to understand religious ideas, proposals and behaviors present in bibliographic sources (Denzin and Lincoln 2006; Stake 2011), since in our case, we understand the Church’s stance towards other ways of believing. It is important to highlight here the primacy of documentary sources, with the support of theological research that contributes to the analysis of the research object. It is clear, therefore, that this is not an empirical study but rather one that makes it possible to analyze data on Christian and indigenous religious experiences, based on the research sources. It does not mean affirming equivalences that deny specificities, nor does it mean affirming falsity in one and truth only in the other. Specifically, the aim of using the comparative method is to relate aspects of indigenous spirituality with the Christian faith, identifying openings for reciprocity and even complementarity. To do this, we also show the importance of theology of religions, for which “The most fruitful comparative method is the one that shows the analogy in the way the structuring elements of the various religious systems work” (Geffré 2013, p. 159).

The research starts from the premise that the Second Vatican Council proposes that the Catholic Church engage in a broad and plural dialogue with society, cultures, churches and religions. The hypothesis to be verified is that this proposal guides the Church’s relationship with indigenous spiritual traditions in Latin America. And the question guiding the research is, what aspects of these traditions can be understood as expressing a reciprocal, enriching and perhaps even complementary interaction with the Christian faith?

Three methodological and epistemological explanations are also necessary: firstly, the comparative method does not seek to analyze the relationship between the Christian faith and indigenous belief systems in a neutral way. There is a positioning here that seeks to point out aspects of these ways of believing that are related. Secondly, it deals with the Christian faith in the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. Without reducing Latin American Christianity to Catholicism, this approach is necessary in order to be objective when analyzing the object of the research. Thirdly, we use the expression spiritual traditions, or spiritual wisdoms or just spiritualities to refer to the way in which indigenous peoples relate to the sacred, their deities, myths and rites that shape a spiritual world of their own. This concept refers different meanings and practices among the continent’s variety of indigenous peoples. But it develops around the idea of the sacred, of spirits and divinities, and supports cosmovisions, behaviors, habits, lifestyles and ceremonies (da Mota 2020, pp. 31–32). The reason for using this expression is that it is not easy, perhaps not even possible, to apply to indigenous spiritual traditions what is understood by religion in Western thought, elaborated by a categorical and intellectual and strongly institutionalized understanding (Wolff 2016, pp. 15–22; 2019, p. 76). We understand that the nomenclature we use expresses, in a more direct way, indigenous behavior in relation to the sacred in the spontaneity of everyday life in an intuitive and existential way and less institutionalized. Indigenous mythologies, for example, are not told in order to be understood through a process of reflection that identifies and distinguishes something true or false but rather in order to be believed and experienced in the field of the sacred. This is what scholars call the “universe of enchantment” (Pacheco 2010), which can only be understood from a decolonial perspective that goes beyond the epistemology of Western religions (Blanco 2019; Cunha and Alberto 2021).

3. Who Are We Talking About? General Characterization of Indigenous Peoples and Implications for the Church

There are a variety of indigenous ethnic groups in Latin America that express a rich diversity in culture, economy, beliefs and other elements that characterize the specific identity of each group of people so that they cannot be defined in a single way.1 However, a general characterization can be made of their communities, which are linked by language, the family kinship system, the exchange of goods, hunting, fishing and food production techniques, a socio-political community organization with decisions taken in collective assemblies and the way they live through time. Each tribe has its own way of living these characteristics, so that, on the one hand, tribal specificities do not allow for generalizations. On the other hand, certain notions that can be applied broadly to indigenous peoples can be abstracted from concrete exisitences.2

This is what we see in the spiritual horizon in which Latin American indigenous peoples understand their own existence and reality as a whole. The Instrumentum laboris of the Synod for Amazonia, thus, characterizes the indigenous spiritual traditions of the region:

faith in God the Father-Mother Creator, a sense of communion and harmony with the earth, a sense of solidarity with their fellow human beings, the project of ‘good living’, the wisdom of ancient civilizations that the elderly possess and which influences health, coexistence, education and the cultivation of the land, the living relationship with nature and “Mother Earth”, the capacity for resistance and resilience, particularly of women, religious rites and expressions, relationships with ancestors, the contemplative attitude and sense of gratuitousness, celebration and feasting, and the sacred sense of the territory.

(Sínodo dos Bispos 2018, n. 121)

A close link can be observed between socio-cultural and spiritual elements, which form a holistic perspective on life, community and a sense of belonging to creation. With their specificities in the value and belief systems of each tribe, these elements can be seen in all indigenous peoples. And “it is necessary to grasp what the Spirit of the Lord has taught these peoples over the centuries” (Sínodo dos Bispos 2018, n. 121), which the Latin American bishops recognize as “openness to God’s action, a sense of gratitude for the fruits of the earth, the sacredness of human life […] a sense of solidarity and co-responsibility in common work […] a belief in a life beyond the earthly and many other values” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 17). Scholars highlight the primacy of existential elements in the organization of daily life, such as vital space and time, their symbolic sensitivity in interpersonal relationships, with creation, with the dead, the spirits and sustainable development (Irarrázaval 2007, p. 75). Such factors configure the utopian horizon of the Good Life and the Land Without Evil, which we will see below (Section 5.5). This horizon becomes concrete in the conduct of personal and community life in indigenous villages, using the land for social purposes to meet collective needs; detaching from interests in the accumulation of goods, individual prestige, and strengthening everything that is tribal; and exercising education without harming freedom and power without diminishing the strength of community decisions. For centuries, these socio-cultural elements have also been religious for indigenous peoples and communities, as they are “truths” that nourish them spiritually in their beliefs. And so, with their ancient cultures, spiritualities and wisdom, indigenous peoples are important social, political and ethnic actors, with their own contributions to humanity in our time (Bonin 2015).

The current globalized world presents enormous challenges for the survival of indigenous communities. The bishops note that “their physical, cultural and spiritual existence is threatened; their ways of life; their identities; their diversity; their territories and projects” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 90), which is also confirmed by academic research (Heck et al. 2012, p. 61). In 2014, studies showed that Brazil had 70 peoples at risk, Colombia 35, and Bolivia 13 (Campos 2014). In 2019, studies by the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC) showed that of the 500 indigenous languages spoken in the region, 26% are in danger of extinction (Heras 2019). In Peru and Bolivia, campaigns of prejudice and discrimination against the Aymara people who live on both sides of the Titicaca River are notorious, making their living conditions even more precarious. Between 1996 and 2001, Alberto Fujimori, then President of Peru, imposed a policy of forced sterilization, affecting around 350,000 Quechua and Aymara women and 25,000 men (Maciel 2021).

Thus, indigenous peoples are struggling to preserve their territories, which are constantly under threat from agribusiness production and oil, mining and gas extraction activities. Among the Achuar people of Ecuador’s southwestern Amazon, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic has been used as a pretext to extract the balsa wood used to manufacture wind power generator blades in Europe and China, proliferating the coronavirus, polluting rivers and affecting communities with floods (Tapia et al. 2021). In Brazil, the Yanomami people who live in the Amazon have had their territories invaded by extractive companies and suffer from major civil works projects that have a negative impact on ecosystems, aggravating the historical situation of dispossession and vulnerability of the original peoples.

This leads to the growing impoverishment of indigenous peoples, who suffer situations of hunger, poverty and cultural uprooting: “Society tends to despise them, unaware of the reasons for their differences” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 89). In this context, the Church is invited to support struggles for the recognition and affirmation of the human dignity of these peoples, their freedom and the affirmation of essential public policies such as territory, health and education. The General Conferences of the Latin American Catholic Bishops express this commitment: at the Medellín Conference (1968), the bishops proposed to develop an evangelization in view of “human promotion for peasant and indigenous populations”, with an educational process that contributes to “enabling them to develop, themselves, as authors of their own progress, in a creative and original way, a cultural world that is in keeping with their own wealth and that is the fruit of their own efforts” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1968, I. 4). At the Puebla Conference, the bishops believe that they can find “the suffering features of Christ” in the “features of indigenous people […] living in segregated and inhuman situations, they can be considered the poorest of the poor” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 34). In Santo Domingo (1992), the bishops set out to promote the human dignity of the indigenous people, since they are deprived of their land as the forests are burned in the Amazon, to promote adequate education in an inculturated and bilingual way (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, pp. 169, 251). And also, at the Aparecida Conference (2007), the bishops state that, in solidarity, “we accompany the indigenous and original peoples in strengthening their identities and their own organizations, in defending their territory in bilingual intercultural education and in defending their rights. We also commit ourselves to creating awareness in society about the indigenous reality and its values” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 530).

This stance of the Latin American Church is part of the prophetic option for impoverished people and minorities (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1968, I. 4; Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 1134–65; Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 391–98). The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, points out the importance of this option in the commitment to the pastoral needs of Latin American peoples, including indigenous peoples, stating that “it is necessary to promote a culture of solidarity that encourages timely initiatives to support the poor” (João Paulo II 1999, n. 52). Pope Francis corroborated this stance of the Church in the Synod for the Amazon and in the document Querida Amazônia, proposing to care for the Amazon by combining ancestral wisdom with contemporary technical knowledge, “but […] at the same time preserving the lifestyle and value systems of the inhabitants” (Francisco 2020b, n. 51). Such an effort requires a historic responsibility for affirming the dignity of indigenous peoples and communities, overcoming all prejudice, discrimination, xenophobia and racism.

4. The Christian Faith and Indigenous Belief Systems in Latin America

4.1. Pre-Conciliar Conversionist Perspective

The Christian faith was introduced to Latin America through a conversionist mission aligned with colonial interests, hallmarks of the triumphalist Christianity that then defined European religious and political expansion. And the indigenous peoples were considered barbaric and exotic in their lifestyles, cultures and beliefs, which served to justify conquest and colonization. Catholic temples were built on top of native monuments such as pyramids and spaces dedicated to deities, as can be seen in Mexico, Peru and Guatemala, among other countries. The mission was a means for the civil domestication of indigenous people, with the teaching of the new creed leading to the imposition of new lifestyles, a new language, a new culture and new worldviews.

In this way, the Christian religion legitimized as divine will the fact that white and European colonizers were bosses, since they were considered a superior human race to be obeyed (Arguedas 1978, p. 207). The God announced is vengeful, and the evangelist shows himself to be a representative of this God, a spokesperson for threats to the infidels, so that failure to “convert” could result in punishments, such as attacks from enemies or extinction from the face of the earth. “The Indians listened to the sacred word without daring to raise their eyes to the sanctuary for fear of being struck down by the avenging wrath of Christ” (Arguedas 1978, p. 217). In this context, it can be seen that the mission has difficulties in transmitting the Christian spirit, the truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom, to the indigenous peoples. And they have difficulties to see the Church as a place of discipleship to Christ who came to serve (Mt 20:28) and promote life “in abundance” (Jn 10:10) in a world of equality, fraternity, justice and peace.

4.2. New Attitudes of the Church Towards Indigenous Peoples

It is true that at the time of colonization, voices were raised in defense of the indigenous peoples, questioning both the colonizing system and the mission of the Church committed to that system, such as Bartolomeu de las Casas (1484–1566); Antonio de Montesinos (1475–1540); Vasco de Quiroga (1470–1565); José de Anchieta (1534–1597); and Manuel da Nóbrega (1517–1570). But these efforts had no effect at the time. Still, on 9 June 1537, Pope Paul III published the Bull Sublimis Deus, in which he stated:

“It is determined, as a matter of faith, that the indigenous peoples are true men like the rest, capable of salvation and all the sacraments […] they are not deprived of their freedom and possession of their things, nor should they be deprived of them; on the contrary, they can freely and lawfully use, enjoy and make use of this same freedom and possession, and should not be reduced to slavery”.

(apud Veritatis Splendor 2020)

Scholars see this papal document as a preamble to demands for human rights. By affirming the otherness of these peoples, “it definitively established their inviolable dignity and served as a further argument to delegitimize the conquest” (Ruiz 2007, p. 14). In the 17th century, Propaganda Fide, founded by Pope Gregory XV on 6 January 1622 to guide the Church’s missionary action, aimed to promote the customs and cultures of the peoples. However, these voices were not strong enough to prevent contempt for indigenous peoples and the brutality of slavery.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Catholic leaders strengthened their stance of denouncing the plundering of indigenous peoples, their territories, their cultures and their beliefs (Suess 1980, p. 61). Pope Pius X, in his encyclical Lacrimabili statu (1912), encouraged the Church’s mission to help “free the indigenous peoples […] from wicked men” (apud Raschietti 2022, p. 212). More recently, there have even been requests for forgiveness from indigenous peoples, such as Pope John Paul II’s pronouncement at the opening of the Santo Domingo Bishops’ Conference (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 2) and Pope Francis at the Second World Meeting of Popular Movements in Bolivia in 2015: “I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offenses of the Church itself, but also for the crimes against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America” (Francisco 2015b). In the post-synodal exhortation Querida Amazonia, Pope Francis says that the lives of these peoples are “a cry to our conscience” (Francisco 2020b, n. 19). The Latin American episcopate recognizes that the value of indigenous belief systems and their practices have “long been ignored or marginalized” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 137); the Aparecida Conference Document (2007) recognizes that “the Gospel has come to our lands in the midst of a dramatic and unequal encounter of peoples and cultures” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 4).

However, one must ask whether the Church has in fact changed in its relationship with these peoples, their cultures and their beliefs. Even today, missionaries—and not just Roman Catholics—preach resignation and submission, favoring socio-cultural and religious domination: yesterday, as today, “we know that not everyone was exemplary” (Francisco 2020b, n. 18). The Christian faith is still presented as the only way of expressing the divine Mystery, with only the Church as a means of guiding the search for meaning, with other religions being mere expressions of human culture or superstition, at most “seeds of the Word” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 401; Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 245) and preparation for the Gospel, only “facilitating our indigenous brothers and sisters to find in the Gospel vital answers to their deepest aspirations” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 4). Is this the best way for the Church to engage in dialogue with indigenous cultures and spiritualities today? It shows an important openness to recognizing the action of the Spirit beyond the boundaries of Christianity. However, it also manifests a vision of incompleteness in the different religions and spiritualities as long as they do not encounter the Christian faith. There is a “theology of completion” here (Dupuis 1997, pp. 178–91), which needs to be overcome by accepting the radical newness that God expresses in other religions and spiritualities by their “singularity or internal truth, irreducible and irrevocable” (Teixeira 2007, p. 22).

4.3. Broadening Paths of Dialogue and Cooperation with Indigenous Cultures and Spiritualities

The Latin American bishops expressed their willingness to “deepen a dialogue with the non-Christian religions present on our continent, particularly the indigenous ones” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 37). They understand the importance of “entering into a fruitful exchange with the religious and cultural manifestations that characterize our pluralistic world today” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 1114). This is a constant proposal in the conferences of the Latin American Catholic Bishops (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 1103–4. 1110–11. 1116–18. 1123; Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 136–38; Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 43–59. 74–82. 227–39). The reason is the recognition of what “the Spirit had already mysteriously sown in that culture” (Francisco 2020b, n. 68). There is no specific definition of dialogue, but it is situated in the context of new attitudes towards cultures and other ways of believing, respecting their specificities and promoting coexistence. This dialogue is linked to cooperation in the defense of the human rights of indigenous peoples for a theological reason: because “we recognize Christ in them (indigenous peoples) […] we discover the immense dignity granted to them by God the Father who loves them infinitely” (Francisco 2020b, n. 63). Dialogue between ways of believing and living in society is, thus, intrinsically linked.

The challenge is to integrate into missionary action the teaching of the Church’s magisterium on dialogue with the religious diversity of our time (NA n. 01; DH n. 15; GS n. 92; AG n. 16.34.41, Francisco 2013, n. 250–254). Dialogue and mission require each other, as stated by the Secretariat for Non-Christians in the document “Dialogue and Mission”, published in (Secretariado para os Não Cristãos 1984), or by the document “Dialogue and Proclamation”, published by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in (Pontifício Conselho para o Diálogo Inter-Religioso e Congregação para a Evangelização dos Povos 1991). The Latin American bishops express this awareness when they propose to “intensify interreligious dialogue considering […] a change of attitude on our part, leaving behind historical prejudices, to create a climate of trust and closeness” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, p. 138). The proclamation of the Gospel in a dialogical manner is fundamental to affirming the value of religious freedom (Dignitatis humanae) and cooperation between faiths for a world of justice, freedom peace and the care of creation (NA 5; GS 77–78; Fratelli tutti; Laudato Si’).

Thus, the mission of proclaiming and witnessing the Gospel does not cancel out the values of indigenous peoples but helps the Church to “value and support all efforts […] to preserve their values and lifestyle […] as a contribution to the common good” (Francisco 2020b, n. 21). After all, “indigenous cultures have indisputable values; they are the wealth of the people” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 1164). This enables the Church to overcome traces of religious imperialism that identifies the grace of Christ with its doctrine. This is the condition for recognizing in indigenous belief systems what is “true and holy” and encouraging everyone to “recognize, preserve and advance the spiritual and moral goods and socio-cultural values” (NA 2) that exist there. This effort is now supported by a new understanding of the mission to indigenous peoples, with a new method, language and subjects rooted in the different indigenous modus vivendi and forma mentis (Suess 2014). In this effort, the aim is to express “the indigenous face of God” (Marzal et al. 1989). It is also supported by the theology of religions that is developing in different parts of the world (Dupuis 1997, pp. 241–85; Knitter 2008; Geffré 2013), including Latin America (Teixeira 2005; Comblin 2004; Vigil et al. 2005; Baptista 2006; Wolff 2016; De Oliveira Ribeiro 2020; Gonçalves and Negro 2021).

Such initiatives gain strength in the magisterium of Pope Francis, who proposes “encounter made culture” (Francisco 2020a, n. 216–217) and “the culture of dialogue as a path” (Francisco 2020a, n. 285) of evangelization today. This requires a structural revision of the way of being of the Church and its mission with a process of “pastoral in conversion” (Francisco 2013, 25–26), which places the Church in a perspective of “going forth” (Francisco 2013, 20–23). The preferential option for poor people and for a just society in solidarity is reinvigorated. This stance values not only the socio-cultural identity of indigenous peoples but also their beliefs, religiosities and spiritualities, recognizing them as “a totality that carries with it their entire history” (Geffré 2013, p. 16). It is their ways of believing that sustain these peoples as “agents of their own destiny” (Sínodo dos Bispos 2019, n. 74). This requires a clear distinction between indigenous pastoral care, which deepens the evangelization of Christian indigenous people, and inter-religious dialogue, which values indigenous beliefs as they are. This is a great challenge for the Church, requiring it to abandon the conversionist perspective mission once and for all and to value in indigenous cultures and spiritualities what is proper to them and not just what is in line with Christian doctrine. It implies a proper way of doing mission and the support of the Church to “ensure that these peoples are recognized as such (and) guarantee the right to live according to their identity” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 251). A true dialogue presupposes the acceptance of the other’s identity in itself, in a relationship of equality and mutual learning, which enables “a dialogical coexistence that cultivates the sense of a hermeneutic of difference and not a logic of assimilation” (Geffré 2013, p. 16). Only in this way can indigenous religious beliefs and practices be understood in their own right. For there too “God manifests himself, reflects something of his inexhaustible beauty” (Francisco 2020b, n. 32). So, they make up “the many paths of God” (Vigil et al. 2005) in human history. Consequently, they are more than “preparations for the Gospel”; they can also be specific gospels lived in alternative ways in the relationship with the divine. The indigenous gospel is expressed by what gives meaning to the existence of its peoples, forms their cosmovisions, and creates an ethos and a mystique that sustain harmonious relationships in the interpersonal, inter-people and nature spheres.

Thus, paths are opened for dialogue and cooperation with the ways of believing of the native peoples of the Latin American continent, promoting their social and religious dignity at the same time. This is what the Latin American bishops propose guiding the mission to value the worldview and symbols of the native peoples (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 248). They encourage “respectful dialogue” that values “their cultural formulations” and helps the Church to “grow in knowledge of their worldview” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 248). Because in indigenous lifestyles, such as a deep attachment to the land and community life, there is “a certain search for God” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 56). The Synod for the Amazon corroborates this orientation by urging that indigenous religious traditions be “known” and “understood in their own expressions” (Sínodo dos Bispos 2019, n. 25). They are welcomed as the Church’s first interlocutors in the Amazon region, along with religions of African origin (Sínodo dos Bispos 2019, n. 25). That is why it is necessary to have a real understanding of them, getting as close as possible to the core of their faith, to the heart of the mystery that surrounds their experiences and around which the peoples orient their coexistence and understanding of all reality. This is the basis of a true dialogue, in which the interlocutors can express their true identity and everyone can cooperate for a better world. For

Interreligious dialogue, beyond its theological character, has a special significance in the construction of the new humanity: it opens up new paths of Christian witness, promotes the freedom and dignity of peoples, stimulates collaboration for the common good, overcomes violence motivated by fundamentalist religious attitudes, educates peace and citizen coexistence: it is a field of beatitudes that are assumed by the Social Doctrine of the Church.

(Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 239)

This has an impact on the way Christian theology is practiced in Latin America. Revelation is harvested from the human matrix of peoples who suffer oppression, resist and struggle for a just society with solidarity. Religious data is understood as a function of humanity. Therefore, the contents of the Christian faith can be reviewed from a dialogical perspective that overcomes absolutism and exclusivism in the notions of the mystery of God and the realities that surround us. From here emerge practices of interculturality, the affirmation of the value of plurality and dialogue between faiths in a just reciprocity. We then have a broad understanding of the oikoumene, in the epistemic sensitivity that underpins the different religious experiences with historical practices and responsibilities, in a holistic perspective that relates humanity and the cosmos. In this direction, the Church develops its mission in a dialogical perspective with indigenous peoples.

5. From a Co-Responsible Social Interaction to a Spiritual Reciprocity

In the neoliberal capitalist system and Western epistemic colonialism, there is no future for indigenous peoples, their lifestyles and their cultures. Their beliefs, myths and rites will also have no future and will only survive to the extent that indigenous populations survive with all their knowledge and ways of life. This requires a radical change in globalized society’s relations with these peoples, based on principles of justice and collective rights that promote their inclusion in social processes.

The Church in Latin America feels it has a particular responsibility in this, within the “common commitment to defend and promote the fundamental rights of every man and every woman” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 1119). That is why it encourages social, economic and political transformations that empower indigenous communities to break with the system that oppresses and excludes them, aware that with their cultures “they demand recognition and offer values that constitute a response to the anti-values of the culture that is imposed” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 57) in market society. The Church seeks to strengthen indigenous struggles in the search for an alternative political and economic model, marked by a “happy sobriety” (Francisco 2015a, n. 224), prophetically criticizing the “joyful irresponsibility” (Francisco 2015a, n. 59) of today’s world in the face of socio-environmental injustices, from which indigenous peoples suffer serious consequences. Paulo Suess says that the Church’s mission needs to “strengthen the defense of the life of indigenous peoples and convert the Church itself and civil society to accept that the specific future of indigenous peoples may one day be relevant and salvific for the Church itself” (Suess 2022, p. 79). And for this to happen, the Church needs to be with the indigenous people, to “reach the heart of the peoples” (Sínodo dos Bispos 2019, n. 97), in order to transform itself “from being the main aggressor of the religious interiority of the indigenous people, into being the main ally for their recomposition to face the challenges of modernizing society together” (Hernández 1999, p. 44). The Synod for the Amazon noted that the indigenous peoples

clearly express that they want the church to accompany them, to walk with them and not to impose on them a particular way of being, a specific way of development that has little to do with their cultures, traditions and spiritualities.

(Sínodo dos Bispos 2019, n. 74)

Thus, the Church’s new relationship with indigenous spiritualities proposes alternatives to the unsustainable lifestyle of today’s societies (Francisco 2015a, p. 161), promoting post-colonial and post-capitalist horizons (Suess 2022, p. 79). It is the fraternal world in Abya Yala, (meaning the mature land, living land or flourishing land), an expression used by the Kuna people of Panama to refer to the region known today as Latin America (Wagua 1984). This is where the Guarani peoples’ aspiration of the “Land Without Evil” (yvy marã eỹ) and the “Good Living” of Quechua mysticism are realized (Acosta 2016). An interaction of these aspirations with the Christian faith points to what the Church conceives as the Kingdom of God present in the human world, in which being, living and coexisting “with the flavor of the Gospel” develops (Francisco 2020a, n. 1).

Therefore, a co-responsible relationship between the Christian faith and indigenous religions enables something that goes beyond simple respect in social coexistence. They constitute “a ‘kairos’ to deepen the Church’s encounter with these human sectors” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 91), enabling reciprocity and mutual enrichment in the spiritual sphere. Religions can hardly be found in their doctrines, myths, rites and ethos. But they can meet “in the spirit” that animates these elements, and “spiritual exchange is what energizes interreligious dialogue” (Wolff 2016, p. 97). There are aspects of indigenous wisdom and beliefs that, in contact with the Christian faith, allow for a reciprocal fertilization and even some “mysterious complementarity” (Geffré 2013, p. 19). It is important that the Church knows how to welcome these aspects “from within its own convictions and identity” (Francisco 2020b, n. 106), in a “dialogue that always has a character of witness, within the utmost respect for the person and identity of the interlocutor” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 1114). We would like to highlight some of these aspects that are frequently found in the source bibliography of this study: religious living, the holistic perspective, being a community, the relationship with creation, the “Land Without Evil” and “Good Living”.

5.1. Living Religiously

In the Christian faith, spiritual experience is a fundamental element in the conception of life and the world we live in. It develops an internalized conception of individual and collective situations, providing a sense of transcendence to reality, so that existence itself depends on a constant relationship with this greater horizon of meaning. This is also what indigenous beliefs affirm, indicating “openness to God’s action” (Francisco 2020b, n. 70) through a “natural religiosity” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 17). The bishops gathered in Puebla recognized in this “the search for answers to man’s concrete needs, a desire for contact with the world of transcendence and the spiritual” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1979, n. 1111). The indigenous peoples live in a spiritual world, affirming “the sacredness of human life […] the belief in a life beyond the earthly” (Francisco 2020b, n. 70), the reason and strength of their existence. The difference with Christian faith is that indigenous beliefs are materialized; they become sensitive, because spirits are everywhere: in the water, in the trees, in the rocks and in the mountains, and they manifest themselves in various individual and collective situations, so that indigenous religiosity is impregnated and sensitively permeates everyday life (Zannoni 1999, p. 125). This behavior can be included in what the Latin American bishops said at the Santo Domingo Conference: “indigenous peoples cultivate human values of great significance; values that the Church defends” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 245.243). And at the Aparecida Conference, they affirmed that “these values and convictions are the fruit of ‘seeds of the Word’, which were already present and working in their ancestors” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 92). The common trait for Christians and indigenous peoples is that this sacred horizon of existence provides vital force for everyday life, gives meaning to reality and guides individual and social conduct. The struggles of indigenous peoples for the demarcation of their lands, the affirmation of public rights and the maintenance of their traditional knowledge are more than political and material demands: they are lived spiritually, with specific rituals. The relationship with their ancestors strengthens the historical reparation in the relationship with “mother” nature, the river, the forest and between people. In everything, indigenous peoples live religiously.

The encounter between the Christian faith and the existential concreteness of indigenous religiosity sheds light on what is meant by incarnation. On the one hand, it helps to understand the person of Jesus of Nazareth as moved by the Spirit in all his life, his speech, his attitudes and his behavior. On the other hand, it helps Christian living to overcome the dichotomy between faith and life, understanding that extraordinary grace is expressed in the ordinary of daily life, in a life of holiness amidst the vicissitudes of the world (Francisco 2018, pp. 55–73). Indigenous religious and spiritual behaviors help Christian people to understand the link between heaven and earth, the extraordinary in everyday life, in a “rescue of earthly spirituality” (Teixeira 2009, p. 16). This is the aspiration of Good Living and the Land Without Evil. For Christians and indigenous people, it is about the realization of superhuman designs—divine or of the spirits—that sustain existence in this world. And all for the glory of God, as St. Irenaeus said: “Gloria Dei vivens homo!” (Adv. Haer. IV, 20, 6–7. Apud Dupuis 1997, p. 86).

5.2. The Holistic Perspective

For indigenous people, living religiously expresses a holistic worldview, so they nurture a belief in a universal spirituality, in which plants, animals, humans, stones, water and air make up a sacred and real universe. Two characteristics stand out in this conception: (a) The first is animism, believing that the elements of nature are alive, conscious and possess an energy of their own, which is close to the idea of Latin anima and the Greek ἐνέργεια. It is the “living force”, which for the Mapuche may correspond to newén; what the Yanomami in the Brazilian Amazon call xapiri, spirits of the forest who live on top of the mountains; and the Bolivian Aymara call Inti (male deity correlated to the sun, father figure) and Pachamama (Andean deity correlated to the earth, fertility, the mother and the feminine), to whom they serve the coca leaf in ritual offerings (Naya 2020; also, Mignolo 2005). The Christian faith does not agree with animist or pantheist perspectives, but it can be attuned to what is at the basis of this conception: a notion of divinities, of God as the “Heart of the Earth, Heart of Heaven” (Irarrázaval 2007, p. 77), and not a theological subject, an individual defined by rational categories. Because “God manifests himself, reflects something of his inexhaustible beauty […] in a vital synthesis with the surrounding environment” (Francisco 2020b, n. 32). (b) The second characteristic of indigenous holism that we can see is in tune with the Christian faith is the notion of reciprocity, something fundamental in Mapuche wisdom (Kimün Mapuche) that expresses the balance of relationships and ensures the perpetuity of their people (Grebe et al. 1972). Reciprocity has to do with the dimension of gratuitousness with which indigenous peoples develop their relationships in their own village, with other peoples and with nature. This conception is not far from what Pope Francis says about the native peoples of the Amazon, who “contemplate the world, not as someone who is outside it, but within it, recognizing the bonds with which the Father has united us to all beings” (Francisco 2020b, n. 53; also, Francisco 2015a, n. 220). After all, “Everything is closely interconnected” (Francisco 2015a, n. 16.19.117.138.240; 2013, n. 24).

By affirming that creation originates from a divine project, the Christian faith affirms that there is a mark of the Creator in it; it is the bearer of a mystery that gives it its own value (Francisco 2015a, n. 16.33). Psalm 139 says that God is everywhere; Jn 1:3 places Christ as the paradigm of creation, and something of God remains in the created. Thus, every element of creation has its own purpose, hence the importance of the ecological initiatives that the Church is encouraging with the encyclical Laudato Si’ and the Global Education Pact, condemning “environmental sins” (Benedict XVI) and promoting care for the Common Home through an interconnection between spirituality, morality, politics and ecology (Bento XVI 2009, n. 48–52).

The holistic vision integrates Christian and indigenous communities, while maintaining their specificities, in the notion of a transcendent reality immersed in the natural world and in the experiences of social coexistence. We are not alone on Earth. The Mapuche of Chile, for example, call the Earth “Mapu”, not only in its physical dimension but also metaphysically, a space where all the dimensions of life in the universe are located, both natural and transcendental (Paillal et al. 2006, p. 31), where the forces of good and evil interact and complement each other. Belief in divinities sustains living and coexistence, struggles and the future (da Mota 2020, pp. 42–43). This is the basis for respect, reciprocity and love both in the human world and in the relationship with creation, in the knowledge that the divinities nurture and direct the movement of history. This strengthens the search for physical, political and spiritual freedom, eases suffering and allows life to be rejoiced in with joy, pleasure and lightness (da Mota 2020, p. 33). The holistic worldview, in which indigenous peoples integrate spiritual beliefs, social organization and the relationship with nature, contributes to recovering a vision of totality in today’s societies, overcoming the technicist and scientific vision that fragments the whole and individualizes and loses the capacity for connections that integrate human existence into the whole of reality. After all, indigenous territories are not only “ubi (geographical space) but also quid, as a place of meaning for faith or the experience of God in history”; they are theological places, a “peculiar source of revelation” (Francisco 2015a, n. 84; see also Sínodo dos Bispos 2019, n. 19), where “God manifests himself and calls his sons” (Francisco 2020b, n. 57).

5.3. Being a/in Community

A fundamental characteristic of being of indigenous peoples is that individual existence is primarily based on collectivity, on being a community. Personal identity is shaped by the experience of being and being with others, so that the person cannot be understood in isolation from the community—kojb’il in the Maya tradition—where the “‘nosotric’ experience takes place, the one that allows subjectivity to emerge and produce knowledge with community relevance” (Lenkersdorf 2005). There is no such thing as a person in an abstract sense; there is this/that concrete person, who identifies as such in relation to other people. Pope Francis recognizes that in the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, “There is no room for the idea of the individual separated from the community or its territory” (Francisco 2020b, n. 20). This “nosoteric” experience in the formation of the self is highlighted by the Brazilian indigenous leader, Ailton Alves Lacerda Krenak, of the Krenak people:

It’s a way of preserving our integrity, our cosmic connection. We’re walking here on Earth, but we walk in other places too […] You can see this collective perspective in them. I don’t know any of our people who have gone out into the world alone. We walk in a constellation.

(Krenak 2020, p. 39)

Being a community is also an essential element in Christian life. The Gospel is lived out concretely in the community with relationships of equality, without distinguishing people by social status (Gal 3:28), where sensitivity to others develops in service and solidarity (Mt 20:28; 25: 34–40) and in the sharing of goods (Acts 2: 43–45). For Pope Francis, “no people, no culture, no individual can get everything from themselves. Others are constitutively necessary for building a full life” (Francisco 2020a, n.150). This Christian teaching has parallels with what is observed in the distribution of goods in the indigenous village, jobs, functions, food and the exercise of power. The aim is to avoid the accumulation of functions and to encourage community management of village life, with a sense of co-responsibility in resolving conflicts.

In the development of community being, the dialogue between the Christian faith and indigenous religions contributes to overcoming the culture of individualism, self-centeredness and indifference in today’s world. The sense of fraternity in indigenous communities is in line with the Pope’s aspiration to “think and generate an open world” (Francisco 2020a, chapter III) that helps to “find in others an increase of being” (Francisco 2020a, n. 88), developing among peoples a “progressive openness of love” (Francisco 2020a, n. 95–100) that is capable of “overcoming a world of partners” (Francisco 2020a, n. 101–105). Christians and indigenous peoples are called to work together for “a new social and cultural system that favors fraternal relationships, within a framework of recognition and appreciation of different cultures and ecosystems, capable of opposing all forms of discrimination and domination between human beings” (Francisco 2020b, n. 22).

5.4. Creatural Fraternity

In indigenous culture, the community being transcends human relationships, as it is formed in relationship with the whole of creation. The worldview, knowledge, spirituality and relationships are holistic, inserted in the totality of the fabric that forms the complexity of life, in a relational ontology that overcomes the tendencies of anthropocentrism and individualistic post-modernism. Human relationships “are impregnated by the surrounding nature, because they feel and perceive it as a reality that integrates their society and culture, as an extension of their personal, family and group bodies” (Francisco 2020b, n. 20). By including creation in the indigenous “nosotric community” (Lenkersdorf 2005), a creaturely fraternity develops that implies “living together in peace”, “living well”, leading a “sweet life”, and “creating the life of the world”: this is the meaning of sumak kawsay in the Quechua language and suma qamaña in the Aymara language (Da Silva 2019). This overcomes the conception of humans as concentrators and dominators of nature’s goods. Each creature has its own purpose and “value in itself” (Francisco 2020b, n. 54). And so, nature is the subject of rights, and these do not depend on human mediation, since the human race is not the owner of the beings of creation. In fact, nature as a whole precedes the human being, since it is the source of the various forms of life, and the human being is the thinking part of the natural world. For centuries, indigenous peoples have passed on this teaching in their relations with the environment, analyzed as “indigenous bioethics” or “ethnobioethics” (Feitosa 2022, p. 62).

This calls for religious awareness and the development of ecological attitudes that help to overcome the environmental problems that exist today or at least mitigate their effects. Humanity and nature are suffering from global warming, soil contamination, water and air pollution, the imbalance of ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity, as serious consequences of human interference in nature. Indigenous peoples teach us to care for creation by recovering our connection with nature, recognizing in it an intrinsic value beyond its human usefulness. They capture “the spirit of creation”, a meaning that goes beyond its materiality, its dimension of transcendence. The harmony with the Christian faith is perceptible. The continent’s bishops state that the Church “especially values indigenous people for their respect for nature and their love of mother earth as a source of food, a common home and an altar of human sharing” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 472). Pope Francis, in communion with Patriarch Bartholomew II, affirms: “It is our humble conviction that the divine and the human are found in the smallest detail of God’s inconspicuous robe of creation, even in the last speck of dust on our planet” (Francisco 2015a, n. 9). In this way, indigenous wisdom contributes to the awareness that we inhabit a Common Home, in a planetary ecumenism that unites all of humanity and creation.

This makes it possible to “accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of sharing with God and neighbor on a global scale” (Francisco 2015a, n. 9). So, both traditions come closer together in an ecological mystique through which they recognize a hidden Presence in all of creation. For the Church, this implies defending and promoting all the different forms of life that come from God. And the indigenous peoples contribute to this understanding by living the creaturely fraternity, whereby “they teach us to recognize ourselves as part of the biome and co-responsible for its care for the present and the future” (Sínodo dos Bispos 2018, n. 102).

5.5. The Mystique of Good Living and the Land Without Evil

The above underpins the mystique of Good Living, an expression that emerged in the 1990s with the struggles of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador and Bolivia for human, territorial and epistemic rights. It breaks with colonial domination over ways of knowing and being, with the hegemony of colonial thought in the definition of reality, indicating harmony and justice in interpersonal relationships, with creation and with the spirits that hover over everything. It is a holistic worldview “marked by the interconnection between territory and nature, culture and religiosity/spirituality, individuality and community, the centrality of the transcendent relational character of the human being and of the whole of Creation” (Sínodo dos Bispos 2019, n. 9). There is “an integrative vision of reality, capable of understanding the multiple connections between all that has been created” (Sínodo dos Bispos 2019, n. 44). These connections allow all beings to feel in a relationship of vital fraternity, in a “communitarian way of conceiving existence, in the ability to find joy and fulfillment in an austere and simple life, as well as in the responsible care of nature” (Francisco 2020b, n. 71). It is important to note the mystical connotation of Good Living through communion with everything around us and openness to the Transcendent (Júnior and de Souza 2021). This concept has an important relationship with two other indigenous expressions: sumak refers to the ideal and beautiful enjoyment of the planet, while kawsay means “life”, a dignified life, in plenitude, balance and harmony (Acosta 2016); and suma qamaña (Aymara): suma means “good”, and qamaña means “dwelling, relating”, also understood as “living together well”, in respect and complementarity between human beings and with nature (Albó 2011).

The challenge is to ensure this utopian horizon through normative processes that support good coexistence between humans and nature. Ecuador and Bolivia have incorporated the concept of Good Living into their constitutions. In Ecuador, a National Plan for Good Living (2009–2013) was created, so that nature is not seen as a storehouse of natural resources but instead as a space where life takes place (Governo do Equador 2009, pp. 38–39). This is why nature’s integrality and vital regeneration cycles must be respected. The societies of our time are challenged to put into practice the legal principles that govern the way they live in the environment, developing the culture of Good Living as a quality of life with harmonious relations between peoples, nations, and nature.

Good Living is related to the aspiration of the Land Without Evil, present among the Guarani peoples in Brazil. It is a movement to rebuild indigenous life, which has suffered and is suffering from the destruction of its human and social projects. The Land Without Evil is not a return to the past but a projection of the future where the Guarani being (Ñande Reko or Teko Porã) is realized (Dalla Rosa 2019, p. 300). It corresponds to what the Kuna people of Panama understand as an alternative world in Abya Yala, as “mature land”, “living land” or “land that flourishes” (yala equals “land” or “territory”, and Abya indicates “mother”, “mature young woman” or “lifeblood”). Although different names are given to the regions occupied by the original peoples, such as tawantinsuyu, anahuac and pindorama, the expression Abya Yala designates them in a specific way, indicating a reality that they propose to transform so that Good Living and good coexistence can be a real alternative to the current social models. The hope of the Land Without Evil is related to the idea of Abya Yala as a place where feelings of unity and belonging develop, living together in a reality of justice, peace and cosmic harmony. That is why the meaning of Guarani land, teko’há—an expression derived from the conjunction of teko (way of being and living) and ha (place, cause or purpose)—transcends the geographical and ecological dimension. Teko’há is the place where the Guarani live fully, in an inter-relation of physical and social spaces. In dialogue with this understanding, the bishops in Latin America understand that “The land, within the set of elements that make up the indigenous community, is life, a sacred place, the integrating center of the community’s life. They live on it and with it, through it they feel in communion with their ancestors and in harmony with God. That is why the land, their land, forms a substantial part of their religious experience and their own historical project” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 1992, n. 172).

Good Living and living together in the Land Without Evil, the future of Abya Yala, is social, environmental and spiritual in a just, diverse, plurinational and intercultural world. This requires breaking away from the mercantilist, productivist and technicist paradigm of today’s society, with its goal of increasing profits at the cost of sacrificing, persons, peoples and ecosystems. The Land Without Evil has a utopic dimension, but it is also historical and political and requires principles that regulate Good Living. But beyond legalism, what regulates Good Living and the Land Without Evil that reconfigures Abya Yala is its mystique. They do not just refer to settling on the land but also to the way of being on it and expanding on it, walking on the land in search of new horizons, a great territory “without evil” (Marzal et al. 1989, pp. 336–38). It is not about conquering new geographical spaces and taking possession of them but about living together with all the beings on earth. For this reason, in indigenous cosmology, land is not seen as a commodity but as a space for community life, where the physical and cultural reproduction of all peoples is guaranteed and cannot be privatized or commercialized. This alternative society is the dream of an anti-systemic horizon and another possible world, the dream of breaking with the hegemonic paradigms of growth and the acceleration of capitalist productivism (Suess 2022, p. 79).

It is possible to see an enriching encounter between this indigenous aspiration and the Christian faith. Considering this aspiration, what the Catholic Bishops said at the Aparecida Conference can be applied to it: “We praise the Lord for having made this continent a space of communion and communication of indigenous peoples and cultures” (Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano 2007, n. 128). In fact, the dream of Good Living and the Land Without Evil is in tune with faith in the Kingdom of God, where there is full life, the overcoming all suffering caused by evil and injustice. It points to a future world that, from a Christian point of view, is in tune with God’s plan for the whole of humanity. It is not a question of affirming a direct equivalence but of noting that both the “Land Without Evil” and the evangelical proposal of the Kingdom seek peaceful, just and harmonious coexistence between persons, peoples and the environment. Both require commitments to transform the present world, making it a place where people can truly experience love, solidarity and justice. The utopia of the Land Without Evil and the hope of the Kingdom are spiritually based, as a way of walking through this world in the spirit of freedom and gratuitousness of those who recognize its transcendent dimension, with a destiny that goes beyond what is seen. By developing these attunements, the Christian faith and indigenous spiritual wisdom are strengthened in the proposal for an alternative society. It is important to take on partnerships and co-responsibilities such as the “educational task (for) the development of solidarity habits, the ability to think of human life in a more integral way, spiritual depth” (Francisco 2020a, n. 167) that qualify Good Living and the good living together in this world.

6. Conclusions

Our research sought to analyze how the Christian faith represented by the Catholic Church in Latin America relates to indigenous spiritual traditions. It found disagreements and also rich possibilities for encounters between the two ways of believing. The relationship between the Christian faith and indigenous belief systems still bears the marks of the long period in which the Church was directly linked to colonialist projects, with a conversionist missionary perspective that did not allow values to be recognized in these beliefs. This attitude began to change with the reception in Latin America of the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on religious freedom, dialogue and cooperation between different ways of believing. This teaching of the conciliar magisterium, reinvigorated during the pontificate of Francis, supports the Latin American Church in a dialogical and supportive stance toward indigenous peoples. However, this attitude still has a lot of growing and maturing to do in order to permeate mission projects throughout the continent.

There is a significant diversity of indigenous peoples on the continent, each with their own cultural and belief systems, which makes them important social actors who make a fundamental contribution to humanity. The bibliography does not present a single definition of indigenous peoples and their belief systems but instead addresses experiential elements that allow us to understand them in their values and vicissitudes. It shows that the Church acknowledges the marginalization of Indigenous peoples, recognizing that their ways of being are often devalued and that their territories, cultural traditions and spiritualities face significant threats of erosion and extinction. And the Latin American episcopate is guiding initiatives that guarantee public policies for the defense and promotion of the lives of these peoples. This enables the Church to develop a social interaction with them that is co-responsible for promoting justice and peace, freedom and human dignity. This social dialogue is the basis for an inter-religious dialogue that makes it possible for Christians and indigenous peoples to share a mutually enriching way of believing.

The study found that in the rich diversity of indigenous spiritual traditions, there are common traits such as the existential spirituality lived in everyday life, the belief in nature spirits and the holistic conception of reality that links them to creation. This spiritual universe is what gives meaning to and sustains the aspiration of the Good Living for an indigenous person and their people in a just and harmonious relationship with creation and with all peoples in the Land Without Evil. We seek to analyze how these aspects of indigenous spirituality can be in tune with the Christian faith. Thus, we worked on living religiously, the sense of community, the holistic perspective of reality, the feeling of creaturely fraternity and the hope of Good Living and a Land Without Evil. The bibliography analyzed shows that these aspects are not closed in on themselves but are instead open to an enriching interaction and reciprocity of both indigenous spiritualities and the Christian faith, with the possibility of some complementarity. It is not a question of one faith taking on the convictions of the other but of realizing how they can enrich each other. The different ways of believing can progress in a mutual recognition of their richness in the polyhedral composition of reality, beyond standardizations and uniformities that kill the spirit that generates the differences that embellish the world we live in. And as this interaction deepens, “We Christians can also benefit from this richness, consolidated over the centuries, which can help us to live our own convictions better” (Francisco 2013, n. 254).

This is a big challenge for the Church’s mission in Latin America. Dialogue does not cancel out the mission of the Church. On the contrary, it is a constitutive element of the mission, something convincing that the preaching of the Church develops the “culture of encounter”, of cooperation and coexistence among peoples, expanding paths of fraternity and communion. In view of this, the bishops express the need for the Church to review its mission objectives and methods with indigenous peoples, promoting respect and acceptance of their lifestyles and cultures, which does not happen separately from their religiosity. This requires the Church to overcome, once and for all, mission perspectives that do not favor the relationship with the spiritual traditions of these peoples. The Church finds it easier to carry out social dialogue than inter-religious dialogue. It needs to grow in the conviction that defending and promoting the indigenous world, its cultural traditions and its territories also implies recognizing, defending and promoting their spiritual beliefs, in a concrete reception of what is taught in n. 2 of the Nostra Aetate Declaration. Together with them, the Latin American Church is called to strongly promote the principle of religious freedom, the end of all prejudice and discrimination (Dignitatis humanae). Only in this way can the Church recognize the legitimacy and value of indigenous spiritual identities as interlocutors of the Christian faith. In this way, it opens up ways of understanding the Word manifesting itself in the maturity of indigenous spiritual experiences. They are not of interest to the Christian faith as forms in which a certain type of alternative Christianity is conceived but instead because they already have a substantial content of reference to the sphere of the sacred, spiritual world, to God. And so, the Christian faith and indigenous spiritual traditions can establish a dialogue in which any claim to hegemony or spiritual superiority is overcome. This is a condition for establishing partnerships for a better world of fraternity, justice, peace and the integrity of creation.