{"id":41389,"date":"2022-04-01T12:03:50","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T18:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pope-apologizes-to-indigenous-for-canada-abuses\/"},"modified":"2022-04-01T18:03:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T18:03:50","slug":"pope-apologizes-to-indigenous-for-canada-abuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pope-apologizes-to-indigenous-for-canada-abuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope apologizes to Indigenous for Canada abuses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Members
Members of the Assembly of First Nations perform in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Pope Francis has welcomed First Nations delegations to the Vatican. They are seeking an apology for the Catholic Church's role in running Canada's notorious residential schools for Indigenous children. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)<\/span>Alessandra Tarantino<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

VATICAN CITY \u2013 Pope Francis on Friday made a historic apology to Indigenous Peoples for the \u201cdeplorable\u201d abuses they suffered in Canada\u2019s Catholic-run residential schools and said he hoped to visit Canada in late July to deliver the apology in person to survivors of the church\u2019s misguided missionary zeal.<\/p>\n

Francis begged forgiveness during an audience with dozens of members of the Metis, Inuit and First Nations communities who came to Rome seeking a papal apology and a commitment from the Catholic Church to repair the damage. The first pope from the Americas said he hoped to visit Canada around the Feast of St. Anna, which falls on July 26.<\/p>\n

More than 150,000 native children in Canada were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century until the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture. The aim was to Christianize and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous Canadian governments considered superior.<\/p>\n

The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant at the schools, with students beaten for speaking their native languages. That legacy of that abuse and isolation from family has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a root cause of the epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction now on Canadian reservations.<\/p>\n

After hearing their stories all week, Francis told the Indigenous that the colonial project ripped children from their families, cutting off their roots, traditions and culture and provoking inter-generational trauma that is still being felt today. He said it was a \u201ccounter-witness\u201d to the same Gospel that the residential school system purported to uphold.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church, I ask forgiveness of the Lord,\u201d Francis said. \u201cAnd I want to tell you from my heart, that I am greatly pained. And I unite myself with the Canadian bishops in apologizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trip to Rome by the Indigenous was years in the making but gained momentum last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves outside some of the residential schools in Canada. The three groups of Indigenous met separately with Francis<\/a> over several hours this week, telling him their stories, culminating with Friday\u2019s audience.<\/p>\n

The president of the Metis National Council, Cassidy Caron, said the Metis elder sitting next her burst into tears upon hearing what she said was a long-overdue apology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pope\u2019s words today were historic, to be sure. They were necessary, and I appreciate them deeply,\u201d Caron told reporters in St. Peter\u2019s Square. \u201cAnd I now look forward to the pope\u2019s visit to Canada, where he can offer those sincere words of apology directly to our survivors and their families, whose acceptance and healing ultimately matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Former
Former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, left, stands outside St. Peter's Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo\/Andrew Medichini)<\/span>Andrew Medichini<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

First Nations\u2019 Chief Gerald Antoine echoed the sentiment, saying Francis recognized the cultural \u201cgenocide\u201d that had been inflicted on Indigenous.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is a day that we\u2019ve been waiting for. And certainly one that will be uplifted in our history,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a historical first step, however, only a first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and other Indigenous leaders said there was far more for the church to do on the path of reconciliation, but that for now Indigenous leaders insisted on being involved in organizing the papal visit to make sure Francis stops in places that hold spiritual importance to their people.<\/p>\n

Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, thanked Francis for addressing all the issues the Indigenous had brought to him. \u201cAnd he did so in a way that really showed his empathy towards the indigenous people of Canada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nearly three-quarters of Canada\u2019s 130 residential schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.<\/p>\n

Last May, the Tk\u2019emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the discovery of 215 gravesites near Kamloops, British Columbia, that were found using ground-penetrating radar. It was Canada\u2019s largest Indigenous residential school and the discovery of the graves was the first of numerous, similar grim sites across the country.<\/p>\n

Even before the grave sites were discovered, Canada\u2019s Truth and Reconciliation Commission specifically called for a papal apology to be delivered on Canadian soil for the church\u2019s role in the abuses.<\/p>\n

In addition, as part of a settlement of a lawsuit involving the Canadian government, churches and the approximately 90,000 surviving students, Canada paid reparations that amounted to billions of dollars being transferred to Indigenous communities. The Catholic Church, for its part, has paid over $50 million and now intends to add $30 million more over the next five years.<\/p>\n

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Francis\u2019 apology and said he looked forward to having him deliver it in person in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis apology would not have happened without the long advocacy of survivors who journeyed to tell their truths directly to the institution responsible and who recounted and relived their painful memories,\u201d he said. \u201cToday\u2019s apology is a step forward in acknowledging the truth of our past in order to right historical wrongs, but there is still work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francis said he felt shame for the role that Catholic educators had played in the harm, \u201cin the abuse and disrespect for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is evident that the contents of the faith cannot be transmitted in a way that is extraneous to the faith itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is chilling to think of determined efforts to instill a sense of inferiority, to rob people of their cultural identity, to sever their roots, and to consider all the personal and social effects that this continues to entail: unresolved traumas that have become inter-generational traumas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"From
From left, Gerald Antoine, First Nations NWT Regional Chief, Natan Obed, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami delegation, and Cassidy Caron, President of the Metis community, walk in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, after their meeting with Pope Francis on Friday. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)<\/span>Alessandra Tarantino<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After the papal apology, the audience continued with joyous performances of Indigenous prayers by drummers, dancers and fiddlers that Francis watched, applauded and gave a thumbs up to. The Indigenous then presented him with gifts, including snowshoes. Francis, for his part, returned a First Nations cradle that the delegation had left with him overnight as he pondered his apology.<\/p>\n

Francis\u2019 apology went far beyond what Pope Benedict XVI had offered in 2009 when an Assembly of First Nations delegation visited. At the time, Benedict only expressed his \u201csorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the church.\u201d But he did not apologize.<\/p>\n

The Argentine pope is no stranger to offering apologies for his own errors and for what he himself has termed the \u201ccrimes\u201d of the institutional church. Most significantly, during a 2015 visit to Bolivia, he apologized for the sins, crimes and offenses committed by the church against Indigenous Peoples during the colonial-era conquest of the Americas.<\/p>\n

He made clear those same colonial crimes occurred far more recently in Canada at the Catholic-run residential schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour identity and culture has been wounded, many families separated, many children have become victims of this homogenization action, supported by the idea that progress occurs through ideological colonization, according to programs studied at the table rather than respecting the lives of peoples,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This version corrects name of First Nations chief to Gerald Antoine.<\/p>\n

\"Members
Members of the Assembly of First Nations perform in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Pope Francis has welcomed First Nations delegations to the Vatican. They are seeking an apology for the Catholic Church's role in running Canada's notorious residential schools for Indigenous children. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)<\/span>Alessandra Tarantino<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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