The Vatican will not lend codices to Mexico

Have you ever wondered who the hell drew the prehispanic codices? Because Instagram did not exist and our ancestors did not document their lives through photos or videos with descriptions like: 'Eating corn #glutenfree' or '#TBT when they conquered us'.

Mexico will not be able to receive loans of works from the Vatican State because they cannot be returned, said yesterday the apostolic nuncio Franco Coppola, following requests for some codices made by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador through a letter delivered by his wife, Beatriz Gutierrez Muller, to Pope Francis during his visit last October 10.

He said that the Supreme Pontiff has already responded to the letter and that it has already been sent to the President, but there is a point about the request for a loan of works that cannot be granted.

We will have to see the details of the matter, but some jurists have pointed out that nothing can be lent to Mexico, because the country's laws prevent the return of the things lent because they are historical monuments; therefore, they cannot be returned to the country that lends them, so they would have to be a gift, not a loan", he stated.

Coppola arrived in Xalapa to commemorate the centenary of the arrival of Saint Rafael Guízar y Valencia to Veracruz, on the day of his birthday; the diplomat will carry out activities of a priestly nature.

In a conference, accompanied by Archbishop Hipólito Reyes Larios and the spokesman of the Archdiocese, José Manuel Suazo Reyes, Coppola referred to the points of the presidential letter that have already been answered. The first has to do with the request for a pardon from the natives for the period of the Conquest.

The Pope has already answered the President. He wrote him a letter recognizing the historical failure of this meeting of cultures, races, people, and nations. There were certainly some shadows, (but) there were also many lights; therefore, it is right in this historical moment to recognize both what did not go well, and what was profitable for all," said the Nuncio.

He assured that "it is not a position of superiority", but of mentioning the opportune, with the recognition of the offense; but also of the contribution that there was in this meeting of nations. "The President doesn't start apologizing to others for himself, because the Mexican State also recognizes it must apologize".

He mentioned that this act of contrition could be carried out in 2021, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 500 years of the Conquest. The second point of the letter is the request for a recognition of the role of two priests who led the fight for Mexico's Independence: Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos y Pavón, which, he added, is timely because the fight for independence was born in the seminaries.

"I think it is very opportune, historically, 200 years after the Independence, to recognize the role the Church, through some of the priests, had in this fundamental event for the Mexican people", he concluded.