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Pope Courts Controversy With Junipero Serra Canonization

KQED News Staff

Sep 18, 2015 at

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If you went to elementary school in California, you no doubt learned the history of the 21 Spanish Missions that dot our coastline. You may even have built a model of one of them. Next week, Pope Francis plans to canonize Junipero Serra, the 18th Century Spanish friar who founded the first nine missions. But many indigenous people are outraged that the person they see as responsible for the destruction of their culture is being made a saint.

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