{"id":3722,"date":"2022-04-02T14:21:01","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T14:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/pope-francis-apologizes-to-indigenous-delegates-from-canada-the-washington-post\/"},"modified":"2022-04-02T14:21:01","modified_gmt":"2022-04-02T14:21:01","slug":"pope-francis-apologizes-to-indigenous-delegates-from-canada-the-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/04\/02\/pope-francis-apologizes-to-indigenous-delegates-from-canada-the-washington-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis apologizes to Indigenous delegates from Canada – The Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

VATICAN CITY \u2014 After years of resisting calls to do so, Pope Francis on Friday apologized for the \u201cdeplorable conduct\u201d of some Catholics in Canada\u2019s residential school system for Indigenous children, saying he was \u201cdeeply grieved\u201d by the stories of \u201csuffering, hardship, discrimination and various forms of abuse\u201d from survivors.
Speaking to an audience that included an Indigenous delegation that traveled from Canada to the Vatican this week to press for an apology, Francis said he felt \u201cshame\u201d for the role Catholics have had \u201cin the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values.\u201d
\u201cAll these things are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,\u201d the pope said at the Apostolic Palace. \u201cFor the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God\u2019s forgiveness, and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon.\u201d
Francis reiterated a pledge made last year to visit Canada, where he said he would be \u201cbetter able\u201d to express his \u201ccloseness.\u201d
The pope has been under renewed pressure to apologize for the Church\u2019s role in the residential school system after several Indigenous communities in Canada in the last year said that ground-penetrating radar had uncovered evidence of hundreds of unmarked graves at or near the sites of former schools.
Residential schools survivors to meet pope amid demands for apology<\/a><\/span>
Beginning in the 19th century, at least 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families \u2014 often by force \u2014 to attend the government-funded, church-run institutions, which aimed to assimilate them in what Canada\u2019s Truth and Reconciliation Commission called \u201ccultural genocide\u201d in a 2015 report.
It said children were punished for practicing their traditions or speaking their languages, and that many suffered various forms of abuse. It identified thousands of children who died at the schools, including from disease, malnourishment, by suicide or while trying to escape. Some were buried in unmarked graves.
The last school closed in the 1990s. Most were run by Catholic entities. The Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches of Canada, which ran some schools, apologized for their roles. While some Catholic entities and local church leaders had apologized, Francis and his predecessor had previously expressed sorrow but stopped short of an apology.
A papal apology on Canadian soil was among the commission\u2019s 94 calls to action.
An unmarked gravesite drags a not-so-distant horror back into the spotlight. Is this a real reckoning?<\/a><\/span>
Francis met separately this week with M\u00e9tis, Inuit and First Nations delegates. The delegation, whose visit was delayed by the pandemic, was made up of Indigenous leaders, elders, youth and residential school survivors, who shared stories of their residential school experiences and the effects that still ripple in their communities.
Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a national organization representing Inuit in Canada, said the apology was \u201clong overdue\u201d and that he was \u201ctouched\u201d by how the pope \u201cexpressed his sorrow.\u201d
\u201cIn Pope Francis\u2019s statement today, I see that we were heard. I hear that we were heard,\u201d M\u00e9tis National Council President Cassidy Caron told reporters. \u201cThis week has truly shown that there is power in our stories and there is power in our truths.\u201d
The delegates also pressed Francis to release records that could help identify the children who died at the schools and criticized the Church for failing to meet its obligations under a class-action settlement with residential school survivors from 2006.
Others called for the return of Indigenous artifacts and for the revocation of centuries-old papal bulls that enshrined what\u2019s known as the doctrine of discovery and were used to justify colonization in the Americas.
The pope did not comment on those demands. Bishop William McGrattan, vice president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, told reporters that the Canadian bishops do not support the \u201cunderlying concepts\u201d that supported the papal bulls and that the Vatican is studying perspectives on the issue.
As he often does, Francis lamented \u201cthe many forms of political, ideological and economic colonization\u201d that \u201cstill exist in the world, driven by greed and thirst for profit, with little concern for peoples.\u201d
Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Villanova University, said the pope \u201csmartly framed\u201d the issue of the Church\u2019s role in the residential school system \u201cinside a wider picture that he\u2019s been working on for many years now, which he calls \u2018ideological colonization.\u2019\u201d
\u201cHe believes that, as Catholics, we\u2019re part of the historical problem, but we\u2019re also part of the solution, [so] this is a clear connection to what he\u2019s always been saying, but especially to the Amazon synod,\u201d he added, referring to the meeting of Catholic bishops in 2019<\/a> that discussed a range of issues facing the Amazon region, including the importance of protecting Indigenous culture.
What to know about Canada\u2019s residential schools and the unmarked graves found nearby<\/a><\/span>
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Catholic who personally appealed to the pope for an apology in 2017, said on Friday that he acknowledged the apology and looked forward to Francis coming to Canada to deliver it in person. Ottawa apologized in 2008 for its role in the residential school system.
Francis did not provide a date for his visit to Canada but joked that it would probably not be in winter. He said he derived \u201cjoy\u201d from the veneration of the delegates for St. Anne and \u201choped\u201d to be with them on her feast day this year, which is in July.
Phil Fontaine, a former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations who was among the first to speak publicly about the abuse he experienced in residential schools, said it was a \u201cmonumental\u201d day.
\u201cSo many people have said in the past that they can\u2019t begin the healing process that would lead to true reconciliation without hearing the pope say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re witness to that moment today, and I sincerely believe that people now have an opportunity \u2026 to forgive. But forgiveness is just as difficult as to apologize.\u201d
Coletta reported from Toronto.<\/i><\/p>\n

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VATICAN CITY \u2014 After years of resisting calls to do so, Pope Francis on Friday apologized for the \u201cdeplorable conduct\u201d of some Catholics in Canada\u2019s residential school system for Indigenous children, saying he was \u201cdeeply grieved\u201d by the stories of \u201csuffering, hardship, discrimination and various forms of abuse\u201d from survivors.Speaking to an audience that included […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}