Some Question Canonization of Father Serra From San Juan Capistrano Mission

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO (CBSLA.com) — The pope will canonize one of  California's most famous missionaries during a special mass in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. But the canonization is drawing flak.

That missionary to be canonized is Father Junipero Serra, who established the San Juan Capistrano Mission.

On Wednesday, huge crowds are expected to pack the mission to watch the canonization that starts at 1 p.m.

But not every one is happy about the canonization. "It created a genocide. It wiped out a culture," said Matias Belardes, tribal chairman of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians based in San Juan Capistrano.

He was referring to the man who led the mission system that converted tens of thousands of Native Americans to Catholicism.

"We were taken from our villages. We were put in the mission system to work the fields, to build the missions, to basically be the workforce," Belardes said.

He is part of a movement behind a resolution calling for Serra not to be canonized during Pope Francis' first visit to the United States.

Belardes said: "There were incidents where he might have done good. There were also instances where did bad. And to have that conflict right there, and refer to a saint, I think it's unacceptable."

"I don't think the church is making stance that saints are without sin or they're perfect people," said Mechelle Lawrence Adams, executive director of the San Juan Capistrano mission.

She said Serra, known as the apostle of California, changed California history by establishing 21 missions across the state and helping countless people in need.

"We must learn from the past. And that's our calling as people going forward," Adams said.