Pope Apologizes For Church’s Collaboration In “Cultural Destruction” Of Canada’s Indigenous People

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He considers it a “devastating mistake” that 150,000 children of the original peoples were interned in religious schools to be subjected to “forced assimilation”.

Pope Francis gave a clear example of how his trip to Canada would go as soon as he got off the plane on Sunday that took him from Rome to the city of Edmonton, capital of the Canadian state of Alberta: when he was received by a group of indigenous people, he kissed humbly the hand of an old native woman. It was a simple gesture that symbolizes this “penitent pilgrimage” as he himself proposed it, as its intent is to seek forgiveness and reconciliation with the native Canadian peoples for the abuse suffered in Catholic schools.

It is estimated that between 1863 and 1998, some 150,000 children and adolescents were taken from their indigenous families to be subjected to state re-education programs in which the various churches, such as the Catholic or the Anglican, cooperated. In those boarding schools, the idea was for the little ones to forget their language, customs and spirituality so that they would embrace Western culture. It is estimated that some 4,100 died in these schools from disease, cold and hunger because the Canadian state did not fund them enough and malnutrition was common. Abuses of all kinds were also common: physical, mental and sexual. Those who survived ended up as uprooted, marginalized and depressed adults, easy victims of drugs, alcoholism, prostitution and labor exploitation.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio wanted his first act in Canada, where he will remain until Friday, to be a meeting with representatives of indigenous peoples. It took place this Monday in the town of Maskwacis, south of Edmonton, which is home to one of the largest of those Catholic boarding schools to try and re-educate Aboriginal children. In an image that will be part of the historical album of this pontificate, Francis arrived in a wheelchair at the Maskwacis cemetery as the drums played by the indigenous people, dressed in their traditional costumes, sounded. After a few moments of reflection and prayer, he began his meeting with some 2000 representatives of the various indigenous peoples of the North American country, to whom he repeated the message of forgiveness that he had already conveyed when he received it three months ago on the Vatican. That visit, which came after the Canadian episcopate’s admission of guilt, was the start of Francis’s journey this week.

“I am among you because the first step of this penitential pilgrimage is to renew my request for forgiveness and tell you with all my heart that I am deeply hurt: I apologize for the way, unfortunately, many Christians have rejected the colonialist mentality of the powers that oppressed the indigenous peoples. I am hurt,” said Bergoglio, who repeatedly apologized for the “cooperation” of religious organizations in those projects of “cultural destruction and forced assimilation.” His words were applauded by Indigenous leaders gathered at the Maskwacis meeting, which also included Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In his landmark mea culpa, Francis acknowledged that the consequences of Catholic boarding schools were “catastrophic,” a “devastating mistake” that is “incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Using a quote from John Paul II, who dedicated the jubilee of the year 2000 to the public confession of the sins committed by “the children of the church”, Bergoglio affirmed that “in the face of this evil that is enraged, the church kneels before God and begs forgiveness for the sins of his children While acknowledging that apologies are “just the first step, the starting point,” he reiterated “with shame and clarity” his “humble request for forgiveness” for the evil that so many Christians commit against indigenous peoples’.

Not to apologize to those who still deny the magnitude of the atrocities committed in Catholic boarding schools for decades, the Pope explained that small children snatched from their families’ arms were taken to those centers, which “marked indelibly the relationship between parents and children, between grandparents and grandchildren.From the moment they arrived, they were subjected to a system that “denigated and suppressed” their languages ​​and cultures and that encouraged “physical and verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse”.

Dressed in a huge plume of feathers and after entering the auditorium from the east like the morning light, Indigenous leader Wilton Littlechild presided over addressing the Pope at the colorful ceremony held this Monday in Maskwacis, south from Edmonton. After an intense welcome with music and traditional dances, Littlechild grabbed the microphone to thank Francisco for “the great personal effort he has made to reach our country”. Although he has improved from his knee problems, which forced him to cancel the trip to Africa scheduled for the beginning of the month, Jorge Mario Bergoglio has not yet been able to gain full mobility, so he must use a wheelchair.

The indigenous leader, who served as a commissioner in the official task force set up to expose abuses against the indigenous peoples, recalled that he himself was one of the students at Ermineskin boarding school in Maskwacis. In these centers “our language was suppressed, our culture was stolen and our spirituality denigrated.” Littlechild, who has received nearly 7,000 testimonies of these atrocities through his work as a commissioner, already shared this reality with Francis during his visit to the Vatican last April. In it, the Pope was also informed of “the devastation that followed the way our families were destroyed.” Francisco listened “deeply and with great compassion” to that suffering, and the words he offered to the natives in response were of “great comfort” to the representatives of the aboriginal peoples, Littlechild celebrated.

This leader of the Aboriginal community, one of those who invited the Pope to visit Canada, finally expressed his wish that the trip would serve to promote an authentic path “of truth, justice, healing, reconciliation and hope” .

Source: La Verdad

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