Pope Francis has apologised for the “disastrous error” on the part of Canada’s church schools with regards to the mistreatment and abuse of indigenous children in the province. The pontiff asked survivors of the system that abused tens of thousands of children for forgiveness.
In a visit to the community of Maskwacis, Alberta, the Pope had this to say “I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.”
Francis also criticised the colonising mentality that these church schools and institutions had over the indigenous children, something that had “catastrophic” effects on generations of these people. He went on to say “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,”
Phil Fontaine, a residential school survivor and former Assembly of First Nations national chief stated that “It’s a special moment for survivors.” After the Pope spoke, a special moment occurred as Chief Wilton Littlechild placed a feather headdress on the pontiff as the crowd cheered.
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