Pope meets 2 indigenous groups, expected to meet another amid scandal over Canadian residential schools that were run by Catholic Church
VATICAN
Pope Francis met the leaders of Canadian indigenous peoples on Monday amid the scandal over residential schools in Canada.
In a statement, Vatican’s press office said the pope separately met with two indigenous groups, 10 delegates representing the Metis people, and eight others for the Inuit.
The pope wished “to listen and to offer space for the painful stories shared by the survivors,” the statement added.
In a statement following the meeting, Cassidy Caron, the president of the Metis National Council, said: “We hope that the Pope heard our stories, that he acknowledges and truly understands, that he translates those stories from his head to his heart – and then into action.”
Caron, who led the delegation of Metis, called the meeting with the pope a “powerful moment for our survivors,” adding: “He, speaking in English, repeated the words truth, justice and healing listening intently to three of the Metis survivors. And I take that as a personal commitment.”
Pope Francis is set to welcome the delegation representing the Assembly of First Nations on Thursday, the statement also said.
The meeting was slated for December 2021 but was canceled due to the emerging health threat of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Three indigenous groups — Assembly of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit — have the same goal: to get a papal apology for the Catholic Church’s role in running notorious Indian Residential Schools beginning in the 1820s through the 1990s when the last of 139 schools were closed.
Around 150,000 students were sent to the schools, at times taken from their families by force to eradicate the indigenous culture.
About 4,500 died and some students were subjected to physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.
During the past year, more than 1,800 unmarked graves have been identified at various residential school sites across Canada.
About 60% were run by the Catholic Church and the rest by other Christian churches.
Apologies have been made by various individuals and groups representing the Catholic Church but never has an official apology been issued by a pope.
