Feds press pontiff for an apology

OTTAWA — Catholics have a role to play in urging Pope Francis to apologize for the role the church played in running Canada’s residential schools, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said Wednesday after the pontiff publicly declined to accept responsibility for the trauma suffered by Indigenous people.

The federal government will keep pushing the church to apologize for its role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit and Metis children in Catholic-run residential schools, as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Bennett said.

“Sorrow is not enough. Sorrow is never enough,” Bennett said, referencing an expression of regret the former pope delivered to a group of former victims and survivors of the church-run boarding schools who visited the Vatican in 2009.

“One has to take responsibility for the harm that was done, not only to the children that were taken, but for the families left behind.”

A letter released Tuesday by the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops says Pope Francis has not shied away from recognizing injustices faced by Indigenous peoples around the world, but that he can’t personally apologize for residential schools.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is Catholic, said he was disappointed by the Pope’s decision, stressing that reconciliation extends beyond the relationship between the government and Indigenous people. Trudeau visited the Vatican last year, where he personally asked the Pope to consider the gesture.