The Vatican says Pope Francis is ready to visit Canada as Indigenous leaders ask him to apologize for the role of the Catholic Church in residential schools.
The Vatican says in a statement that the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has invited Pope Francis to visit Canada, and that he has indicated his “willingness” to do so at an undetermined date.
This development precedes a trip to the Vatican that First Nations, Métis and Inuit leaders plan to make in December to meet with the Pope in the hope of obtaining an apology.
The 2015 final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada – which shed light on abuse suffered by Indigenous children in church-run and federally-funded residential schools – calls for a papal apology to be offered in Canada.
These appeals have escalated over the past year after hundreds of anonymous graves were discovered at the sites of former residential schools by First Nations in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
Criticism also intensified as concerns were raised that the Catholic Church failed to properly compensate residential school survivors, as agreed as part of a landmark settlement.
With the Associated Press
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