Pope Francis apologized to survivors of indigenous residential schools in Canada on Monday, beginning a long-awaited reconciliation process after years of requests to the Catholic Church to acknowledge the harm done.
The pope denounced the “catastrophic” residential school system that was prominent in the country from the 1890s to the 1940s that required indigenous children to attend and learn to assimilate into European culture. Although the practice has since ended, it garnered renewed attention after hundreds of unmarked graves were found on the sites of the schools earlier this year, prompting indigenous leaders to call on the Catholic leader to respond publicly.
POPE LANDS IN CANADA, SET FOR APOLOGIES TO INDIGENOUS GROUPS
“I am deeply sorry — sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples,” Francis said. “It is painful to think of how the firm soil of values, language, and culture that made up the authentic identity of your peoples was eroded, and that you have continued to pay the price of this.”
Thousands of indigenous elders, former students of the schools, and family members attended the event to hear the apology, which marked a rare overseas visit for the pope. Francis offered a public apology in April, the first time the pope acknowledged the abuses at the schools.
Francis previously avoided making remarks that would denounce the Catholic Church for the residential schools, which were funded by the Canadian government and carried out by Christian churches. Although publicly apologizing on Monday, the pope still withheld criticism of the church and did not acknowledge its complicity, instead decrying the individual actions.
“I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools,” he said.
Monday is the first of several apologies the pope is set to deliver this week as he travels to the sites of former schools in Alberta, Quebec City, and Iqaluit, Nunavut.
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Several indigenous groups plan to push for more than just apologies as the week goes on, as many press the pope to release church archives that detail what happened to several children who never returned home after being forced to attend the residential school system. The Canadian government has also acknowledged the horrors that occurred at the schools, including reports of physical and sexual abuse.
Roughly 150,000 indigenous children were taken from their families and forced to assimilate to the country’s Christian culture and forget their native languages and cultures.
