Francis, in Canada on what he called a penitential pilgrimage, apologized to the Indigenous peoples of the country for the Catholic Church's cooperation in their forced assimilation to colonising Europeans' culture over the centuries, especially in residential schools run by the church.

People from the First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities who listened to the pope's apologies responded for the most part positively. Many, however, regretted that it took so long for the pope to apologise, and some wanted him to say more.

Some Indigenous leaders wanted the pope to denounce the Doctrine of Discovery, a 15th-century theory enshrined in the papal bull, "Inter Caetera," that allowed Christian nations to conquer and colonise "barbarous" nations in order to convert them to Christianity. At that time, Christians believed that those who were not baptised could not go to heaven.

The first question addressed to the pope on the plane returning to Rome was from an Indigenous reporter for CBC Radio, Jessica Ka'nhehsíio Deer.

"As a descendant of a residential school survivor, I know that survivors and their families want to see concrete actions following your apology, including the rejection of the ‘Doctrine of Discovery,'" she said.

"Considering that this is still enshrined in the Constitution and legal systems in Canada and the United States, where Indigenous peoples continue to be defrauded of their lands and deprived of power, was it not a missed opportunity to make a statement to this effect during your trip to Canada?"

The pope's response was shocking. "I didn't understand the second part of the question. Could you explain what you mean by Doctrine of Discovery?"

What? The pope does not know what the Doctrine of Discovery is?

There isn't an excuse for this lapse.

How could the pope make a trip to Canada to apologise for the church's role in forced assimilation without knowing about the Doctrine of Discovery?

Why was he not briefed on this?

Certainly, there are people in the Vatican, especially in the Secretariat of State, and among the Canadian hierarchy who know that this doctrine is of concern to the Indigenous leaders in Canada and elsewhere.

How could they let the pope go to Canada without a thorough briefing on this topic? If he had been briefed, he probably would have been happy to reject it.

Somebody dropped the ball.

True, this was not the most important issue of the trip.

What the Indigenous people wanted was an apology for what happened in the residential schools and the church's role in forced assimilation. Of the 50,000 people who attended his Mass in Edmonton, probably fewer than 1,000 knew about the doctrine. But this is an issue of great concern to Indigenous leaders and scholars.

The pope should not have been caught flat-footed by a question from a journalist.

The issue has been well covered by the press.

Using the search function at the Religion News Service website, I found 390 results mentioning the Doctrine of Discovery just since 2020.

Catholic publications like the National Catholic Reporter and America, published by the Jesuits, have also discussed it thoroughly.

Indeed, at the United Nations Ninth Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in April 2010, the Vatican said that the doctrine had been abrogated as early as 1494 and that "circumstances have changed so much that to attribute any juridical value to such a document seems completely out of place."

In short, the Vatican said, "The Holy See confirms that Inter Caetera has already been abrogated and considers it without any legal or doctrinal value."

When reporters ask the Vatican about the doctrine, they get a similar response and are told that the topic is under study.

The pope should have been prepped on what the Vatican has been saying so he could have at least said the same.

Vatican officials should have known that this question was coming, and they should have prepared the pope to respond. Instead, he was left looking like a student who had not done his homework.

The pope's response to a second question was also embarrassing.

Here the pope was asked about genocide.

"The people who heard your words of apology this past week expressed their disappointment because the word ‘genocide' was not used," said Brittany Hobson of The Canadian Press.

"Would you use that term to say that members of the church participated in genocide?"

Here the pope quickly embraced the idea. "It is true," he said.

But then he added, "I didn't use the word because it didn't come to my mind."

What?

None of his advisers suggested that he might refer to what happened to the Indigenous peoples of Canada as "genocide"?

You got to be kidding.

The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission described the residential school system as genocide, so this is nothing new.

If one of the pope's speechwriters had suggested using the term "genocide," it is clear from the pope's response that he would have included it in his speeches.

Again, someone dropped the ball.

The pope's responses on the plane back to Rome are beyond embarrassing; they are scandalous.

The pope needs better staffing or people will begin to think that perhaps he is no longer up to the job.

• Thomas Reese SJ is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America. First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

Francis has said his weeklong visit, which begins Sunday, is a "penitential pilgrimage" to beg forgiveness on Canadian soil for the "evil" done to Native peoples by Catholic missionaries.

It follows his April 1 apology in the Vatican for the generations of trauma Indigenous peoples suffered as a result of a church-enforced policy to eliminate their culture and assimilate them into Canadian Christian society.

Francis' tone of personal repentance has signalled a notable shift for the papacy, which has long acknowledged abuses in the residential schools and strongly asserted the rights and dignity of Indigenous peoples.

But past popes have also hailed the sacrifice and holiness of the European Catholic missionaries who brought Christianity to the Americas — something Francis, too, has done but isn't expected to emphasize during this trip.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, a Canadian Jesuit who is a top papal adviser, recalled that early on in his papacy, Francis asserted that no single culture can claim a hold on Christianity, and that the church cannot demand that people on other continents imitate the European way of expressing the faith.

"If this conviction had been accepted by everyone involved in the centuries after the ‘discovery' of the Americas, much suffering would have been avoided, great developments would have occurred and the Americas would be all-around better," he told The Associated Press in an email.

The trip won't be easy for the 85-year-old Francis or for residential school survivors and their families. Francis can no longer walk without assistance and will be using a wheelchair and cane because of painful strained knee ligaments.

Trauma experts are being deployed at all events to provide mental health assistance for school survivors, given the likelihood of triggering memories.

"It is an understatement to say there are mixed emotions," said Chief Desmond Bull of the Louis Bull Tribe, one of the First Nations that are part of the Maskwacis territory where Francis will deliver his first sweeping apology on Monday near the site of a former residential school.

The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse were rampant in the state-funded, Christian schools that operated from the 19th century to the 1970s. Some 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and forced to attend in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes, Native languages and cultures.

The legacy of that abuse and isolation from family has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a root cause of the epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction on Canadian reservations.

"For survivors from coast to coast, this is an opportunity — the first and maybe the last — to perhaps find some closure for themselves and their families," said Chief Randy Ermineskin of the Ermineskin Cree Nation.

"This will be a difficult process but a necessary one," he said. Continue reading

The apology is only a first step towards reconciliation.

The pilgrimage began Monday, July 25.

The first act on the Canadian "penitential pilgrimage," was the return of two pairs of children's moccasins on 25 July.

"I am sorry," he said.

Cultural destruction

"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.

"We want to walk together, to pray together and to work together so that the sufferings of the past can lead to a future of justice, healing and reconciliation," said Francis.

"I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry," he said.

Saying the Church's actions were "catastrophic," Francis called the Indigenous culture "a treasury of sound customs and teachings centred on concern for others, truthfulness, courage and respect, humility, honesty and practical wisdom".

Christian faith, he said, "tells us that this was a disastrous error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

He said it is painful for him to think of how the values, language and culture of Indigenous communities "was eroded, and that you have continued to pay the price of this."

Reconciliation

After issuing an impassioned apology, Francis gave voice to his vision of reconciliation by visiting an Indigenous Catholic congregation at Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples congregation in Edmonton.

The church, built in 1913, welcomes Indigenous and non-Indigenous faithful.

"This place is a house for all, open and inclusive, just as the Church should be, for it is the family of the children of God where hospitality and welcome, typical values of the Indigenous culture, are essential," he said.

"A home where everyone should feel welcome, regardless of past experiences and personal life stories.

"It pains me to think that Catholics contributed to policies of assimilation and disenfranchisement that inculcated a sense of inferiority — robbing communities and individuals of their cultural and spiritual identity, severing their roots and fostering prejudicial and discriminatory attitudes.

"And that this was also done in the name of an educational system that was supposedly Christian," Pope Francis said.

"One cannot proclaim God in a way contrary to God himself," the pope said.

"Nothing can ever take away the violation of dignity, the experience of evil, the betrayal of trust" suffered by the students, he said.

Nothing can "take away our own shame as believers."

"That happened because believers became worldly and, rather than fostering reconciliation, they imposed their own cultural models" on the students, he said.

Unfortunately, he said, "this attitude dies hard, also from the religious standpoint".

"Indeed, it may seem easier to force God on people, rather than letting them draw near to God," Pope Francis said. "Yet this never works, because that is not how the Lord operates."

"He does not force us, he does not suppress or overwhelm; instead, he loves, he liberates, he leaves us free. He does not sustain with his Spirit those who dominate others, who confuse the Gospel of our reconciliation with proselytism," the pope said.

"While God presents himself simply and quietly," the pope said, "we always have the temptation to impose him, and to impose ourselves in his name."

Build a positive legacy

Day two of his pilgrimage began with Mass, attended by an estimated 50,000 people.

In the course of the homily, Francis challenged humanity to envision the future.

In addition to being children of a history that needs to be preserved, we are authors of a history yet to be written, the Pope said, noting that we are marked by both light and shadows and by the love we did or did not receive, he said.

He said that while we are the children of parents, it is good to ask ourselves what kind of society we want to build and bequeath to those who came after us.

Later in the day he visited Lac Ste Anne, a famous Catholic pilgrimage site in Canada that holds spiritual significance for the nation's indigenous people.

The pope blessed a bowl of the lake's water, which was brought up to a small wooden structure shaped like a teepee, overlooking the lake.

Francis made the Sign of the Cross towards the four cardinal points, according to Indigenous custom.

The pope prayed by the water's edge in his wheelchair before sprinkling the crowds with the blessed water.

He concluded the day celebrating a Liturgy of the Word at the Shrine of Ste Anne, with a crowd of mostly Indigenous people in attendance, estimated at around 10,000.

Condemnation of old and new colonialism

On day three, Francis travelled to Québec where he met with government authorities.

Speaking with Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, Francis criticised the "colonialist mentality" that oppressed Indigenous peoples in the past and continues today, while apologising once more for the role played by the Catholic Church.

"In the past, the colonialist mentality disregarded the concrete life of people and imposed certain predetermined cultural models," he said.

He also warned of modern-day colonialism.

"Yet today too, there are any number of forms of ideological colonisation that clash with the reality of life, stifle the natural attachment of peoples to their values and attempt to uproot their traditions, history and religious ties," he added.

Calling for "the legitimate rights of the native populations and to favour processes of healing and reconciliation between them and the non-indigenous people of the country," Francis labelled the "deplorable system" of residential schools in Canada as an example of "cancel culture".

The Pope reiterated that the Holy See and the local Catholic communities wish to concretely promote the indigenous peoples' rights.

"It is our desire to renew the relationship between the Church and the Indigenous peoples of Canada, a relationship marked both by a love that has borne outstanding fruit and, tragically, deep wounds that we are committed to understanding and healing," he said.

Francis observed that the suffering inflicted by the colonising mentality does not heal easy.

"Multiculturalism is fundamental for the cohesiveness of a society as diverse as the dappled colours of the foliage of the maple trees," he said.

"With its universal dimension, its concern for the most vulnerable, its rightful service to human life at every moment of its existence from conception to natural death, is happy to offer its specific contribution," said Francis.

Controversy

Francis's "Penitential Pilgrimage" is not gone without further cultural controversy.

Some members of First Nations in Manitoba say they're angry that Pope Francis was given a headdress as a gift following his apology on Monday for the role members of the Catholic Church played in Canada's residential school system.

After the Pope's apology in Maskwacis, Alberta, Wilton Littlechild who is honorary chief of Ermineskin First Nation presented the pontiff with a headdress.

The Pope wore the regalia over his traditional papal head covering until it was removed shortly after by a member of his staff.

"For them to gift [the Pope] this sacred item was disappointing," said Kevin Tacan, a knowledge keeper and spiritual advisor from Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in western Manitoba.

"It's become a thing to recognise political leadership, and it's not meant to be that way."

Tacan said headdresses are traditionally earned by members who are doing significant work in service of the community.

"[People] have to prove themselves constantly. They have to continue to prove themselves going into the future, that they still deserve to have it."

Others supported the idea of the gift.

Phil Fontaine, a residential school survivor who has served as both national chief of the Assembly of First Nations and grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said Littlechild followed protocols in requesting permission to present the headdress.

"He went to the elders. He went to the leadership and requested permission to present that gift. So [it was] entirely consistent with the way they followed their customs and protocol," Fontaine said.

Tacan acknowledges some, like Fontaine, support the gift but he doesn't agree with them.

"I suppose [the Pope is] the leader for them. But I don't believe that the Pope is the leader for the rest of us," he said.

"How do we invite the fox into the chicken coop and say, 'OK, you're the head rooster in here?' It doesn't work that way."

"If somebody has a vision or if the community decides, 'This is a good leader, let's pick him,' they go over and they put a blanket around him, put a headdress on him," he said. "They will decide."

He said medicine men can also decide if someone deserves a headdress.

"He already knows — he got the information from up there," Wakita said.

He doesn't believe many people understand the meaning of the headdress anymore.

"I'm sorry to say that our people, they don't understand the sacredness of this. Not the importance — the sacredness of something that came from the Creator."

Sources

• RNS
• RNS
• Vatican News
• CathNews
• CNA
• CBC

The shoes were not part of the Vatican Museums artefacts but were given to him when Canadian Indigenous visited Rome in March 2022

"The first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry," the Pope said.

"I am sorry," he said.

"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."

Francis was greeted by Cree Chief Wilton Littlechild, who, on behalf of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, expressed deep appreciation for "the great personal effort" he has made to meet Indigenous peoples in their homeland.

In his address Usow-Kihew ("Golden Eagle",) as he is known in his Cree community, warmly welcomed Pope Francis' joining the Indigenous peoples of Canada in their journey of healing and reconciliation and said the words he spoke after meeting the Indigenous delegations in Rome and listening to their stories, were "a source of deep comfort and great encouragement".

Francis said he is visiting their native lands to tell them in person of his sorrow and to implore God's forgiveness.

"We want to walk together, to pray together and to work together so that the sufferings of the past can lead to a future of justice, healing and reconciliation," said Francis.

"I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry," he said.

Francis apologised "for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples."

Saying the Church's actions were "catastrophic," Francis called the indigenous culture "a treasury of sound customs and teachings, centred on concern for others, truthfulness, courage and respect, humility, honesty, and practical wisdom."

Christian faith, he said, "tells us that this was a disastrous error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

He said it is painful for him to think of how the values, language, and culture of Indigenous communities "was eroded, and that you have continued to pay the price of this."

The Canadian government now estimates at least 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Métis children were taken from their families and communities and forced to attend the schools between 1870 and 1997.

At least 4,120 children died at the schools, and several thousand others vanished without a trace.

As the meeting with the pope began, dozens of people carried a long red banner through the crowd. The banner bore the names of each of the 4,120 deceased children and the school where they died.

Students at the schools were forbidden to speak their native languages or practice their traditions. The government provided so little financing that the students often were malnourished. And many were emotionally, physically or even sexually abused.

Sources

• Vatican News
• Crux
• Catholic News Service