Vatican City: Pope Francis on Friday made a historic apology to indigenous peoples for “reprehensible” abuse at residential schools run by the Church of Canada and said he hopes to move to Canada in late July to help Catholic victims. To apologize personally. The misguided missionary zeal of the Church.
Francis apologized during an audience with dozens of members of the Metis, Inuit and First Nations communities, who were demanding an apology from the pope and a commitment to repair the damage for the Catholic Church. America’s first pope said he expected to visit Canada “in days” around the Feast of St. Anna, which falls on July 26 and is dedicated to Christ’s grandmother.
More than 150,000 Native children in Canada were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century to the 1970s to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture. Its purpose was to Christianize and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous Canadian governments considered superior.
After listening to their stories all week, Francis told Indigenous that the colonial project had separated children from their families, cut off roots, traditions and culture, and instigated the inter-generational trauma that still exists today. is felt. , He said this was a “counter-witness” to the gospel that the residential school system was called to maintain.
“For the reprehensible conduct of those members of the Catholic Church, I beg God’s forgiveness,” Francis said. “And I want to speak my mind to you, that I am deeply saddened. And I unite myself with the Bishops of Canada to apologize.”
Francis said he was embarrassed by the role of Catholic teachers in harming “your identity, your culture and even the abuse and disrespect of your spiritual values”. “It is clear that the content of the faith cannot be transmitted in a way that is outside the faith itself.”
“To think about the unresolved traumas that have become gaps, to create a sense of inferiority among people, to rob them of their cultural identity, to break down their roots, and to consider all the personal and social impacts they may have.” For those that still persist. “It’s cold for generational trauma,” he said.
The Indigenous Tour of Rome took years to build, but gained momentum last year after hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered outside some residential schools in Canada. Three groups of indigenous people met with Francis separately over several hours this week, culminating with Friday’s audience.
Francis spoke Italian and the indigenous had English translations to read. Cassidy Caron, chair of the Metis National Council, said the Metis elders sitting next to them wept bitterly after a long apology.
“The Pope’s words today were certainly historic. They were necessary, and I deeply appreciate them,” Caron told reporters in St. Peter’s Square. “And I now look forward to the Pope’s visit to Canada, where he can offer those sincere words of apology directly to our survivors and their families whose acceptance and healing ultimately matter most.”
Caron presented Francis with a bound book of stories from his people: What the indigenous people sought to achieve during their meetings this week was for Francis to tell personal stories of their loss and abuse.
The Canadian government has acknowledged that physical and sexual abuse was rampant in schools, with students being beaten up for speaking their native language. The legacy of that abuse and isolation from family has been cited by Indigenous leaders as the root cause of the epidemic rate of alcohol and drug addiction on Canada’s reservations.
About three-quarters of the 130 residential schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.
Last May, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the discovery of 215 graves near Kamloops, British Columbia, that were found using ground-penetrating radar. It was the largest indigenous residential school in Canada and the tombs discovered were the first of many, similar grave sites across the country.
After the papal pardon, the audience continued with a joyful display of country prayers, drumming, dancing, and instrumentalists, which Francis saw, applauded, and at one point gave a thumbs up to. The indigenous people then presented him with gifts including snow boots.
Francis’ apology went far beyond that offered by Pope Benedict XVI when a First Nations delegation visited a gathering in 2009. At the time, Benedict only expressed “anguish at the anguish caused by the abhorrent conduct of certain members of the Church”. But he did not apologize.
The Argentine pope is no stranger to apologizing for his mistakes and has labeled himself a “crime” of the Institutional Church. Most importantly, during a 2015 visit to Bolivia, he apologized for the sins, crimes and crimes committed by the Church against indigenous peoples during the colonial-era conquest of the Americas.
He explained that the same colonial crimes had recently occurred in residential schools run by Catholics in Canada.
“The chain entrusting knowledge and lifestyle combined with the region has been broken by colonialism, which has removed many of you from the critical environment without respect and another mindset,” Francis said. Tried to conform. “So your identity and culture are injured, many families are torn apart, many children fall victim to this homogenization action, supported by the idea that instead of respecting people’s lives, the programs studied at the table Accordingly progress is made through ideological colonization.”