Francis begged forgiveness during a hearing with dozens of members of the Metis, Inuit and First Nations communities who came to Rome asking for a papal apology and a commitment from the Catholic Church to repair the damage. The first pope from America said he hoped to visit Canada around the feast of St. Anne, which falls on July 26. More than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century to the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture. The goal was to Christianize and assimilate them into the dominant society, which previous Canadian governments considered superior. The Canadian government has acknowledged that physical and sexual abuse has been rampant in schools, with students being beaten for speaking their mother tongue. This legacy of this abuse and isolation from the family has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a major cause of epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction now in Canadian reservations. After hearing their stories all week, Francis told the natives that the colonial project uprooted children from their families, cutting off roots, traditions and culture and causing traumas between generations that are still felt today. He said he was a “witness” to the same Gospel that he claimed supported the home school system. “I ask the Lord for forgiveness for the deplorable behavior of these members of the Catholic Church,” said Francis. “And I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart that I’m in a lot of pain. “And I join myself with the Canadian bishops in apologizing.” Indigenous travel to Rome has been going on for years, but gained momentum last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves outside some of Canada’s residential schools. The three Indigenous groups met with Francis separately for several hours this week, telling him their stories, culminating in Friday’s audience. Francis spoke Italian and the natives read his remarks in English translations. Metis National Council chairwoman Cassidy Caron said Metis seniors sitting next to her burst into tears when she heard what she said was a long overdue apology. “The Pope’s words today were certainly historic. “They were necessary and I appreciate them very much,” Caron told reporters in St. Peter’s Square. “And now I look forward to the Pope’s visit to Canada, where he can offer these sincere words of apology directly to our survivors and their families, whose acceptance and treatment is ultimately of paramount importance.” The spiritual counselor of the First Nations Assembly delegation, Elder Fred Kelly, echoed the sentiment. “Today is the day we have been waiting for. “And definitely something that will stand out in our history,” he said. “It is a historic first step, however, only a first step.” He and other indigenous leaders said the church needed to do much more on the path to reconciliation, but that for the time being the indigenous leaders insisted on organizing the Pope’s visit to make sure that Francis would stop in places that have spiritual importance to their people. Nathan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, thanked Francis for tackling all the issues the Indigenous people had brought him. “And he did it in a way that really showed his empathy for the indigenous people of Canada,” he said. Nearly three-quarters of Canada’s 130 residential schools were run by Catholic missionary churches. Last May, Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the discovery of 215 graves near Kamloops, British Columbia, found using ground penetration radar. It was the largest Indigenous residential school in Canada, and the discovery of the tombs was the first of many similar gloomy sites throughout the country. Even before the tombs were discovered, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada specifically called for a papal apology on Canadian soil for the church’s role in the abuses. In addition, as part of a lawsuit against the Canadian government, churches and some 90,000 surviving students, Canada has paid billions of dollars in compensation to indigenous communities. The Catholic Church, for its part, has paid more than $ 50 million and now plans to add an additional $ 30 million over the next five years. Francis said he was ashamed of the role Catholic teachers played in the damage, “in the abuse and disrespect for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values,” he said. “It is obvious that the contents of the faith can not be transmitted in a way that is foreign to the faith itself.” “It is creepy to think of decisive efforts to instill a sense of inferiority, to rob people of their cultural identity, to cut their roots and to reflect on all the personal and social consequences that this continues to entail: unresolved wounds that have been inflicted on each other. “Generational wounds,” he said. After the papal apology, the audience continued with happy interpretations of native prayers by drummers, dancers and violinists that Francis watched, applauded and greeted. The natives then handed him gifts, including snowshoes. Francis’s apology went far beyond what Pope Benedict XVI had offered in 2009 when he visited a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations. At that time, Benedict only expressed his “regret for the agony caused by the deplorable behavior of some members of the church.” But he did not apologize. The Argentine Pope is no stranger to apologizing for his own mistakes and for what he called “crimes” of the institutional church. Most importantly, during a visit to Bolivia in 2015, he apologized for the sins, crimes, and offenses committed by the church against Indigenous peoples during the colonial conquest of America. He made it clear that these same colonial crimes occurred much more recently in Canada in Catholic-run residential schools. “Your identity and culture have been hurt, many families have been separated, many children have fallen victim to this act of homogenization, supported by the idea that progress is made through ideological colonization, according to programs studied at the table and not with respect for peoples’ lives. ». he said.
