Pope Francis agrees to visit Canada as Indigenous leaders seek apology
Pope Francis has agreed to visit Canada amid growing calls for an apology from the Catholic church over its role in the abuse and deaths of thousands of Indigenous children.
The church has faced mounting criticism for resisting the release of all documents related to the residential school system and allegations that it withheld millions in compensation for survivors of those schools.
On Wednesday, the Vatican said Francis had accepted an invitation from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops for an apostolic journey to Canada “also in the context of the longstanding pastoral process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples”.
Francis “has indicated his willingness to visit the country” but a date has not yet been determined. The pilgrimage could be a venue for a papal apology that Indigenous leaders in Canada, as well as prime minister Justin Trudeau, have demanded.
Over more than a century, at least 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and forced to attend residential schools, many of which were run by the Catholic church. Children were forcibly converted to Christianity, given new names and were prohibited from speaking their native languages. The last residential school closed in the 1990s.
Nearly three-quarters of the 139 residential schools were run by Roman Catholic missionary congregations. Others were run by the Presbyterian, Anglican and the United Church of Canada.
The Canadian government formally apologized for the policy and abuses in 2008, and the Presbyterian, Anglican and United churches have apologized for their roles in the abuse.
But the Catholic church has never offered a formal apology, nor has the pope.
RoseAnne Archibald, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said: “I’ll welcome Pope Francis when he arrives… to issue a long overdue apology to survivors and intergenerational trauma survivors. The Catholic church must be accountable and acknowledge their responsibility for implementing and running these institutions of assimilation and genocide.”
Marc Miller, the minister for CrownIndigenous relations said: “A full and complete apology from the Pope that recognizes the harm done at residential schools operated by the Catholic Church is an important step towards reconciliation.”
The discovery this year of nearly 1,300 unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools has prompt
ed fresh calls for a reckoning over the legacy of the schools.
As part of a 2007 agreement, the church agreed to pay C$29m in compensation to survivors, but distributed only a fraction of that figure, citing poor fundraising efforts. Reporting by Canadian media outlets revealed that the church controls more than C$4bn in assets and constructed gilded cathedrals while claiming it lacks the funds to make good on its promises to pay compensation.
The church has also faced calls from Indigenous leaders to release all of its records, unredacted, relating to the schools.
In July, four Catholic churches on First Nations territory were set on fire – and more than a dozen others were vandalized.
Francis had previously agreed to meet with Indigenous residential school survivors in December amid calls for a papal apology for the Catholic church’s role.