Pope visits Nunavut for final apology in Canada
IQALUIT, Nunavut — Pope Francis traveled to the edge of the Arctic, on Friday, to deliver an apology to the Inuit people for the “evil” of Canada’s residential schools, wrapping up his week-long “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada with a dramatic visit to the remote territory of Nunavut to meet with school survivors.
Francis landed in Iqaluit, population 7,500, and was meeting with former school students at a primary school before delivering remarks to Inuit youth and elders.
Organizers readied scores of anti-mosquito mask hats that have net mesh face protection to guard against the mosquitoes that abound this time of year in the mild temperatures of Nunavut. Most of the territory is part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, including its largest island, Baffin Island.
The visit capped an unusual papal tour designed specifically apologize to generations of First Nations, Metis and Inuit for the abuses and injustices they suffered, and to assure them that he was committed to helping them reconcile their relationship with the Catholic Church.
Before leaving Quebec City, on Friday morning, Francis renewed his apology to survivors from eastern Canada for the Catholic missionaries who “supported oppressive and unjust policies” against them and vowed to pursue truth and healing. From the late 1800s to the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in churchrun boarding schools to sever them from their cultures and assimilate them into Christian, Canadian society.
The Canadian government has said physical and sexual abuse was rampant at the schools, and Francis, on Thursday, begged forgiveness for the “evil” of clergy sexual abuse committed against young and vulnerable people, vowing an “irreversible commitment” to prevent it from happening again.
Francis, who has been forced to use a wheelchair this trip because of painful strained knee ligaments, said he hoped to make progress in the search for truth “so that the processes of healing and reconciliation may continue, and so that seeds of hope can keep being sown for future generations – indigenous and non-indigenous alike – who desire to live together, in harmony, as brothers and sisters.”
“I have come in a spirit of penance, to express my heartfelt pain at the wrong inflicted on you by not a few Catholics who supported oppressive and unjust policies in your regard,” Francis told the delegations in Quebec City. “I have come as a pilgrim, despite my physical limitations, to take further steps forward with you and for you.”
Later Friday, Francis brought that message to Nunavut, a vast territory straddling the Arctic Circle. It is the farthest north the Argentine pope has traveled.