In particular, the need to protect native territories became "especially clear when planning economic activities which may interfere with indigenous cultures and their ancestral relationship to the earth".
The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux, the tribes protesting the pipeline, have argued that the project would interfere with religious ceremonies around a lake that is sacred ground to them.
Pope Francis made a Wednesday speech defending the rights of indigenous tribes to ‘their ancestral relationship to earth’. Although he did not mention it by name, his explicit comments on the subject suggest that he is a supporter of those protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline.
During the Indigenous Peoples Forum in Rome, the pope made a brief speech regarding the age-old struggle between development and native peoples. Speaking in Spanish, Francis said that industry always had to be aware of "the protection of the particular characteristics of indigenous peoples and their territories".
In particular, the need to protect native territories became "especially clear when planning economic activities which may interfere with indigenous cultures and their ancestral relationship to the earth".
The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux, the tribes protesting the pipeline, have argued that the project would interfere with religious ceremonies around a lake that is sacred ground to them.
"Do not allow those which destroy the earth, which destroy the environment and the ecological balance, and which end up destroying the wisdom of peoples," he wrote then.
After months of back-and-forth, it appears that the Dakota Access Pipeline will be completed and moving oil as soon as March 2017. Protests continue, although only a fraction as many as in late 2016.
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