Pope Francis asked on Monday July 25 “sorry for the wrong done” against aboriginal people in Canada, especially in church-run boarding schools for aboriginal children. “I am distressed. I ask forgiveness”declared the sovereign pontiff in front of thousands of natives in Maskwacis, in the west of the country.
>> In Canada, residential school trauma continues to haunt survivors ‘shattered’ by years of abuse
Evoking a “devastating mistake”the pope recognized the responsibility of certain members of the Church in this system in which “the children suffered physical and verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse”. The sovereign pontiff deplored that some of its members had “cooperated” to policies of “cultural destruction”.
The pope’s words, translated into English, were greeted with loud applause. In total, the sovereign pontiff asked “sorry” three times, “with shame and clarity”during this highly anticipated first speech, delivered in Spanish, on the site of the former Ermineskin residential school, in the presence of many survivors and members of the indigenous communities.
Dear #Indigenous Peoples from #CanadaI come to your native lands to tell you personally how much I am afflicted, to implore God’s forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, to show you my closeness, to pray with you and for you.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex_fr) July 25, 2022
“The place where we are now makes a cry of pain resound in me, a stifled cry that has accompanied me for the past few months”he insisted, referring to the “trauma” suffered by generations of indigenous people and “wounds still open”.
This violence, described as “cultural genocide” by a commission of inquiry, caused at least 6,000 deaths between the end of the 19th century and the 1990s and created a shock wave over several generations, revived by the discovery of thousands of anonymous graves in 2021.
Emphasizing the need for “to remember”the 85-year-old Argentinian Jesuit, who arrived in Canada on Sunday for the six-day visit, also said that “excuses [n’étaient] not a full stop” but “only the first step” on the way to “healing”.