Pope Francis has spoken of his “sorrow, indignation and shame” over the Catholic Church’s role in the abuse of Canadian Indigenous children in residential schools, as he kicked off a weeklong “penitential pilgrimage” to the country.
The Pope apologized and promised a “serious investigation” into what happened in a speech at a meeting with Indigenous peoples in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday.
Indigenous leaders have long called for a papal apology for the harm inflicted for decades on Indigenous children, who suffered abuse and the erasure of Indigenous culture in the country’s residential schools.
“I ask 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,” the pontiff said.
By CNN
