During his visit to Canada, Pope Francis asked the country’s indigenous people for forgiveness for the wrongs they had suffered. He asked for forgiveness for “the harm that so many Christians have done to indigenous peoples,” the pope said on Monday during a visit to the Alberta town of Maskwacis. The leader of the Catholic Church deplored the Church’s involvement in the “cultural destruction” of indigenous societies.
He expressed his dismay at “the way many members of the Church and religious communities are engaged, not least through indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation.” He feels pain and regret, the 85-year-old said.
In Maskwacis, about sixty miles south of Edmonton, the Pope met representatives of the natives, who had long been preparing for the Catholic Church leader’s visit. From 1895 to 1975, Ermineskin boarding school, one of the largest boarding schools in the country, was located in Maskwacis.
150,000 indigenous children placed in homes
In Canada, since 1874, some 150,000 children of Aboriginal and mixed-race couples had been separated from their families and culture and placed in church homes to force them to adapt to majority white society. Many of them were mistreated or sexually abused there, and thousands died of disease or malnutrition.
Decades of Child Abuse
The beatings took place in state and church institutions for decades. Children died as a result of disease, starvation or in connection with abuse. The cases received international attention when experts discovered anonymous graves of dead children near a boarding school just over a year ago.
In Canada’s indigenous peoples, relatives have long suspected what befell their relatives in these institutions. The children, some of whom were torn from their families, would learn Western culture there. The debate over the treatment of Aboriginal children has been going on in Canada for years. The church has been criticized for not providing adequate compensation for survivors.
Before his departure, Pope Francis had announced that he would come as a penitent to the second largest country in the world, with a population of about 38 million. On the flight to Edmonton on Sunday, he told you to “be careful” on this trip. On the way from the airport, a few people stood on the side of the road waiting for the Pope to drive by. But there was also a banner on a bridge that read ‘No to Apology’.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
