After face-to-face meetings between Pope Francis and the First Nations, representatives of the Inuit and Metis this week, all parties met with the Pope at the Vatican on Friday.
Speaking in Italian, the pope sought God’s forgiveness for the “deplorable behavior” of members of the Catholic Church, acknowledging the crimes committed against indigenous schools.
“I want to tell you with all my heart: I am very sorry,” said Francis during the final meeting with the delegates.
“And I share my brothers, the Canadian bishops who apologize.”
The pope added that he was “outraged” and “ashamed” of the abuses in Canada’s ecclesiastical schools, and said that Catholic teachers in these facilities did not respect the identity, culture and spiritual values ​​of the natives.
“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 look at all the personal and social consequences that this continues to entail: unresolved wounds that have been inflicted on each other. .  “wounds of generations”, said the Pope in Italian.
In addition to the apology, Pope Francis vowed to travel to Canada.  No official date has been set for the trip, but the pope said he hoped to visit Canada “in the days” around the feast of St. Anne, which falls on July 26 and is dedicated to the grandmother of Christ.
A papal apology for the church’s role in facilitating Canada’s residential schools was one of 94 recommendations outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which reviewed the history of the country’s residential schools from 2008 to 2015.  Many school survivors have said that an apology would be more important if Pope Francis traveled to Canada for it.
About 190 people, including delegates, survivors and supporters, gathered on Friday to share spiritual practices, such as prayers and traditional songs, and to hear the Pope’s words during the final talk.  The delegates also gave the Pope gifts such as snowshoes and a bound book of Metis stories.
At Thursday’s meeting, the First Nation delegation also gave the Pope gifts, such as moccasins, an eagle’s wing and a crib board, intended as a sign of peace and an example of First Nations culture that persists despite assimilation efforts.
The delegation said they had instructed the Pope to take care of the cradle overnight, hoping to return it when he meets with all three indigenous groups on Friday, as a sign of his commitment to reconciliation.  It is unclear whether the board has been returned or whether the Pope will return it when he arrives in Canada.
At meetings earlier this week, indigenous delegations shared stories of loss and abuse and told the Pope that they wanted to understand how they were shaped by the Catholic Church’s heritage and school housing system, as well as the impact of this system on future generations.
The delegates also demanded a commitment from the Catholic Church to repair the damage caused by its members to residential schools, such as the abolition of the doctrine of discovery, the return of indigenous lands and the provision of compensation to survivors.
Beginning in the late 1800s, some 150,000 indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend boarding schools, facilities that aimed to replace their language and culture with English and Christian beliefs.  The schools were established by the Canadian government and most were run by the Catholic Church.
Numerous cases of abuse and at least 4,100 deaths have been reported in former residential schools, where thousands of confirmed and unmarked graves have been found.  Canada’s last residential school closed in 1996.
Since the late 1980s, many apologies have been made to various church groups, including former Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008 and the RCMP in 2004 and 2014 – each acknowledging their role in running residential schools.
In 2017, during a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Prime Minister Justin Trindade asked the head of the Catholic Church to apologize for her participation in Canada’s school housing system.  But the following year, the church issued a letter stating that the pope would not apologize.
Speaking to reporters in St Peter’s Square after the Pope’s speech on Friday, the head of the First Nations Assembly delegation, Gerald Antoine, said the apology was “too late” and a “historic first step” towards reconciliation. , but “only a first step”.
“Today is a day we have been waiting for, and certainly a day that will go down in our history,” Antoine said.
“The next step is for the Holy Father to apologize to our family at their home; they are also looking for words of apology at home.”
Antoine said Friday’s apology was an important moment for indigenous delegates to feel that they “see” the Catholic Church as human – something they were not given during their time in home schools.
“Our message to the world is that we are all together in this. We are human beings. Let us work together to humanize properly with Mother Earth,” Antoine said.
With archives from the Canadian Press, the Associated Press, and CTVNews.ca authors Daniel Otis and Jennifer Ferreira 
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If you are a former home school student who is experiencing problems or has been affected by the school housing system and need help, you can contact the Indian Residential School 24-Hour Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 or the Indian Residential School Line without Survivors Society charge at 1-800-721-0066.
Additional mental health support and resources for indigenous peoples are available here.