<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr">Buenos dĂas 🌞 </div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">The following article appeared today in DR1.com - an English language news synopsis of Dominican headlines… I thought it might be of interest to the Sunday Community members. </div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Many blessings to all and have a wonderful day!</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Dean.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">-::-::-::- </div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><u>Leo XIV, a mestizo Pope for a universal church</u></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">In an editorial on 13 May 2025, Diario Libre executive editor Anibal de Castro focuses on the reality that the DR is a mixed race and ancestry country.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">The editorialist writes:</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">“The election of Leo XIV as Supreme Pontiff has brought about more than just a name change at the Vatican summit. It has brought to the surface a history that many would prefer to ignore: the multiple, complex, and in this case, mestizo origins of the new leader of the Catholic Church.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">The fact that the Pope has Dominican blood and Afro-descendant Creole heritage and that one of his grandfathers was classified as "black" in 19th-century America, should not cause much surprise.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">But it does: unfortunately, we continue to drag along a cultural discomfort —a visceral resistance— to accept that the Dominican, the Catholic, and the universal can simultaneously be black, mestizo, Creole, and proudly diverse.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">The case of Leo XIV confirms that origins do not hinder destiny unless we decide to deny them or be ashamed of them.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">The Dominican Republic is mulatto by statistics, by history, and by vocation. We are a nation woven with African, European, and Taino threads, and the attempt to uniform our identity under a single race, creed, or language is a symbolic mutilation that impoverishes everyone.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Stigmatizing someone's color, last name, accent, or faith is a subtle—and dangerous—form of hate. And hate, even when disguised as defense of the homeland or order, is always contrary to the faith we claim to profess.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Pope Leo XIV, grandson of a Dominican tobacco worker and heir to a black, Catholic family from New Orleans, perhaps also Haitian, embodies that mixture that irritates purists and gives hope to those who believe in mixed ancestry and race as a plus.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">May his story serve as a reminder of who we are—without shame or fear.”</div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"></div></body></html>