Missiological Challenges since the Colloquies of Tlatelolco (1524)

Abstract

During the “Colloquies of Tlatelolco”, in the year 1524, Aztec leaders and twelve Franciscans, newly arrived in the so-called New Spain, exposed essential traits of their respective
religious universe. On the part of the Franciscans, the objective of these Colloquies was the conversion of the Aztecs to Christianity. Because of the military conquest that preceded these Colloquia and sustained the salvific monopoly of the missionaries, from the beginning of the talks, the submission of the indigenous interlocutors was already decided. Today, military power has ceded its influence to economic power and hegemonic culture, and
in many religious denominations, the affirmation of the salvific monopoly is still present and hinders peace in a world in which diversity should be at the service of solidarity.