Hearing pain of Canada school survivors felt like slaps, Pope says
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis said on Wednesday he felt the pain of survivors of Canada’s residential school system “like slaps” and that the Catholic Church has to face up to its responsibility for institutions that abused children and tried to erase Indigenous cultures. The Pope dedicated his talk at his weekly general audience to his […]
Pope says genocide took place at church schools in Canada for Indigenous children
Aboard the papal planeReuters Pope Francis said on Saturday that what happened at residential schools that the Roman Catholic and other Christian Churches ran to forcefully assimilate Canada’s Indigenous children was genocide. The Pope made the comment while flying back to Rome after a week-long trip to Canada, where he delivered a historic apology for […]
Pope again asks for forgiveness as tour ends in Canada’s north
Iqaluit, Nunavut, CanadaReuters Pope Francis again asked for forgiveness after meeting on Friday with residential school survivors in the Arctic territory of Nunavut, the last stop in his six-day visit to Canada to apologise to Indigenous people for abuse in government schools run by the Roman Catholic Church. After a private meeting in a small […]
Updated: Pope seeks forgiveness for sexual abuse at Canadian residential schools
Updated: 11:45am (AEST)Sainte-Anne-De-Beaupre, Quebec, Canada Reuters Pope Francis on Thursday asked for forgiveness for sexual abuse at Canadian schools for Indigenous children run by Catholic orders, addressing a deep wound that many survivors wanted him to acknowledge during his apology tour in Canada. Pope Francis greets the faithful before presiding over a Mass at the […]
Pope apologises for “deplorable evil” of Canadian Indigenous schools
Maskwacis, Alberta Reuters Pope Francis apologised on Monday to Canada’s native people on their land for the church’s role in schools where Indigenous children were abused, calling their forced cultural assimilation a “deplorable evil” and “disastrous error.” Speaking near the site of two former schools in Maskwacis, Alberta, Francis apologised for Christian support of the […]
Pope, starting Canada trip, says he has “great desire” to visit Kyiv
Aboard the papal planeReuters Pope Francis said on Sunday he yearned to visit Ukraine, in his efforts to try and bring an end to a five-month-old war that he has repeatedly decried. “I have a great desire to go to Kyiv,” the Pope said when asked about a possible future trip to Ukraine. He was […]
Papal trip: Indigenous Canadians wary, hopeful as Pope prepares apology
PETER SMITH, of Associated Press, on how, ahead of the papal trip this week, Indigenous Canadians are voicing a range of scepticism, wariness and hope…
Pope Francis’ meeting with Canada’s Indigenous to focus on elderly, environment
Vatican CityRNS Pope Francis will travel to Canada on Sunday for what he has described as a “penitential pilgrimage” to atone for the Catholic Church’s part in the persecution of Indigenous communities and its mistreatment and alienation of Indigenous children in residential schools. But Francis’ six-day apostolic visit isn’t only about bringing the Pope’s presence […]
Vatican releases Pope’s Canada itinerary, a sign trip is on
Rome, ItalyAP The Vatican on Thursday released the itinerary for Pope Francis’ 24th to 30th July visit to Canada, providing a sign he intends to go ahead with the trip despite knee problems that forced him to cancel a six-day visit to Africa also planned for next month. Francis is due to visit Canada to […]
Essay: A reckoning on Native boarding schools in the US is long overdue
In an article first published on Religion News Service, BRIDGET MOIX, general secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, says that there are “gaping holes between our country’s traditional narrative and the realities of how our nation was built and who paid the costs”…