Pope Francis apologized to Canada’s native people on their territory on Monday by condemning the Church’s involvement in institutions where indigenous children were abused.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis apologized for Christians’ complicity in the “colonizing mentality” of the time when speaking at the locations of two old schools in Maskwacis, Alberta. He also urged for a “serious” inquiry of the schools to aid in the healing of survivors and their descendants.
Francis, who arrived and left in a wheelchair due to a shattered knee, stated, “With humiliation and remorse, I humbly seek forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the indigenous peoples.”
The pope delivered his first apology on Canadian territory in an address to the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people as part of a mission to mend old wounds that surfaced following the uncovering of unmarked remains at residential schools last year.
Such a trip had been promised by the 85-year-old pope to native delegations who met with him earlier this year in the Vatican, where he first expressed regret.
Native American chiefs met the pope as a fellow chief and welcomed him with singing, drumming, dancing, and war songs. They were wearing eagle-feather battle headdresses.
Forgiveness
I’m here to ask forgiveness once more and to tell you once more that I’m sorry as the first step of my penitential trip among you, he stated.
He was speaking to the native peoples gathered at the Bear Park Pow-Wow Grounds, which is a part of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Saulteaux, and Nakota Sioux people’s ancient homeland.
“Sorry for the regrettable manner in which many Christians encouraged the colonizing mindset of the oppressive authorities on native peoples. I apologize. The Church falls to her knees before God and begs for his pardon for the crimes of her children in the face of this abhorrent wickedness”.
Following the pontiff’s address, Chief Wilton Littlechild adorned his head with feathers. In front of a crowd that was applauding, Francis got up from his chair and wore it for a while.
Tears streamed down an indigenous singer’s face as she sang the Canadian national anthem in Cree. Before the pope, who kissed it, a scarlet flag bearing the names of missing children was carried.
Before his speech, Francis prayed in silence among the crosses in the church’s cemetery for native Americans and walked by a monument commemorating the two residential schools that once stood there.
Cultural Disturbance
More than 150,000 native children were taken away from their families and sent to residential schools between 1881 and 1996. In a system that Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission labeled “cultural genocide,” several children were malnourished, physically assaulted for speaking their native tongues, and sexually abused.
The pope said, “I ask forgiveness, especially for how many members of the Church and religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural erasure and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.
Roman Catholic priests and nuns from religious groups ran the majority of the schools on behalf of the government.
At a defunct residential school in British Columbia, the remains of 215 kids were found last year. Since then, dozens of other defunct residential schools around the nation have also discovered what are believed to be the remains of hundreds more kids.
Indigenous leaders and many survivors claim they want more than an apology. They also demand monetary restitution, the return of missionary-sent artifacts to the Vatican, assistance in bringing an alleged abuser who is currently residing in France to justice, and the disclosure of documents held by the religious organizations that oversaw the institutions.
Some have also demanded that the Catholic Church repudiate papal bulls, sometimes known as edicts, from the 15th century that supported colonial forces appropriating indigenous lands.
The pope’s message came too late and too little for Wallace Yellowface, 78, a boarding school veteran from the Pikanni Nation Reserve in southern Alberta.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Canada has pledged to generate $30 million for charitable and other projects. So far, the fund has raised C$4.6 million.
