The purpose of their visit was to urge Francis to publicly apologize for the abuse that their ancestors - and even some of them - suffered at residential schools run by the Catholic Church.

But can a pope really ask for forgiveness when it's been the Vatican's practice to leave the appropriateness of such apologies up to local bishops? And in what cases have popes issued their own apologies in the past?

Paul VI was the first Roman Pontiff to ask forgiveness of past wrongs. He did so in 1965 during a visit to Jerusalem when he and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople made an important "gesture of justice and mutual pardon" through a joint Catholic-Orthodox declaration.

The two Church leaders expressed "regret" for the "offensive words" and "reprehensible gestures" that marked a "sad period" culminating in their predecessors' reciprocal excommunications in 1054.

"The words are not the same as today, we do not speak of apologies, but we must take into account that it was 60 years ago," explained Father Bernard Ardura, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.

"This declaration was indeed a request for mutual forgiveness," he pointed out.
Slave trade

Two decades later, John Paul II made another type of apology during a visit to Cameroon.

During a meeting in 1985 with intellectuals and Catholic students in Yaoundé, the Polish pope addressed the painful history of slavery.

"Throughout history, people belonging to Christian nations have unfortunately not always behaved well, and we ask for forgiveness from our African brothers who have suffered so much, for example, from the slave trade," he said.

It repeated those sentiments during a 1992 visit to Senegal, but this time his words were addressed to God.

"From this African sanctuary of black pain, we implore heaven's forgiveness," John Paul II said on the island of Gorée, a historic site of the French slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries.

"These men, women and children were victims of a shameful trade, in which people who were baptized, but not living their faith, took part," he continued.

"How can we forget the enormous suffering inflicted, in disregard of the most basic human rights, on the populations deported from the African continent? How can we forget the human lives destroyed by slavery," the late pope said.
The turning point of the year 2000

John Paul II continued this work of critical examination of the past. In particular, he gave his personal backing to a 1998 symposium on the Inquisition.

That same year he also embraced, as his own, a statement on anti-Semitism that was issued by the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee.

The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 marked a very important step in this process.

At a Mass in Rome on the March 12 "Day of Forgiveness", the pope implored "divine forgiveness for the sins of all believers".

"Let us forgive and ask forgiveness," John Paul II said.

In particular, he implored forgiveness for "the divisions which have occurred among Christians".

"The recognition of past wrongs serves to reawaken our consciences to the compromises of the present, opening the way to conversion for everyone," he said on that occasion.

"We must ask ourselves what our responsibilities are regarding atheism, religious indifference, secularism, ethical relativism, the violations of the right to life, disregard for the poor in many countries," he insisted.

This request also went hand in hand with the Church's "forgiveness" of those who had persecuted Christians throughout history.

"At the same time, as we confess our sins, let us forgive the sins committed by others against us," John Paul said.
"Distinguishing between error and those who commit it"

Other apologies would follow, including in the current pontificate.

For example, Pope Francis asked forgiveness of Italian Protestants in 2015 and specifically begged "forgiveness for the sin committed by those who have gone before us" during a 2017 symposium on Luther that was held at the Vatican.

Father Ardura said this move towards asking for pardon was all made possible by John XXIII.

"In his encyclical Pacem in terris, published in 1963, he clearly states that a distinction must always be made between error and those who commit it, 'even in the case of those who err regarding the truth or are led astray as a result of their inadequate knowledge, in matters either of religion or of the highest ethical standards'," the historian explained.

By restating this ancient distinction in a major papal document, the late Italian pope opened the possibility for the Church to ask for forgiveness.

"It is therefore possible to condemn the Church's error without condemning the Church itself," Father Ardura noted.

But he said this should be something that is done only rarely, otherwise it will lose its value.

"The pope cannot ask for forgiveness for everything, otherwise it would considerably dilute the significance of these requests," he said.

"That's how we became capable of distancing ourselves 70 years ago. But the request for forgiveness is only one step," the Vatican historian continued.

"After forgiveness comes reconciliation. And that can still take years."

Source

• La Croix
• Image: Catholic News Agency

"For us, this was an extraordinary and unexpected event that we could not have hoped for," said Archbishop Job of Telmessos who received the relics on Bartholomew's behalf.

Job had been at the Vatican for the 29 June Sts Peter and Paul feast day celebrations.

After the celebratory Mass, Francis and Job went down to St Peter's tomb under the high altar to pray.

Job said after they had prayed, Francis told him he had a gift for his brother Patriarch Bartholomew.

He then drove Job to the Apostolic Palace, took a bronze reliquary containing nine fragments of St Peter's bones that Pope St Paul VI had placed in the Palace's little chapel and offered it to Job.

The bone fragments were discovered during excavations of the necropolis under St Peter's Basilica that began in the 1940s.

While no pope has ever declared the bones to be authentic, St Paul VI in 1968 said the "relics" of St Peter had been "identified in a way which we can hold to be convincing".

The only time the bronze reliquary has been displayed publicly was in November 2013, when Francis had it present for public veneration as he celebrated the closing Mass for the Year of Faith.

Job says he phoned Patriarch Bartholomew as soon as he could to tell him about the gift.

It was "another gigantic step toward concrete unity," Job said.

At a ceremony last week to receive the relics and venerate them, Bartholomew said, "Pope Francis made this grand, fraternal and historic gesture" of giving the Orthodox fragments of the relics of St Peter.

"I was deeply moved. It was a brave and bold initiative of Pope Francis."

Source

• America Magazine
• Crux Now
• Image: Crux Now

The first conference was held in 1969 during St Pope Paul VI's leadership.

This year the Vatican is joining forces with a University of Kent research initiative to host the "Cultures of Unbelief" conference.

Scholars from a range of disciplines will gather at Rome's Gregorian University to discuss the results of the "Understanding Unbelief" research initiative. During the past two years this initiative has been mapping the rise and nature of non-religion across the world.

According to the Pew Research Center, the number of "nones" — those who describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or of no particular religion — will reach 1.2 billion worldwide by 2060.

Young people are particularly likely to identify as nones.

Last year an Understanding Belief researcher found 70 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds in the UK identify as having "no religion".

Research into unbelief has also focused on countries where the majority population is made up of nonbelievers, while other projects are looking at the motivations, experiences and problems faced by non-believers in religious societies.

The conference will also hear from researchers who have being examining themes such as non-religious childhoods, the persistence of magical thinking, and the ways in which mindfulness meditation might be seen to constitute a secular religion.

No plans have been announced for Pope Francis to address the conference, but organisers say the possibility remains open.

What's important, they say, is to build a dialogue and collaboration between believers and unbelievers to gain a greater understanding of the others' metaphysical, existential and moral beliefs.

"The growth of different forms of non-religion has been a significant development in many societies across the world in recent decades," says Gordon Lynch, a professor of modern theology at the University of Kent.

"This conference [draws] together findings from the most substantial international programmes of research in this field, and promises to be a genuinely landmark event in taking forward both our understanding of the varieties of non-religion and the social implications of these."

Prof. Stephen Bullivant of St Mary's University in Twickenham says the Church has long realised that atheism needs to be understood properly.

In his view, the conference could help stem the tide of people leaving the Church.

"We recognise that very sincere moral people are all striving to reach the truth and we need to understand that better. Part of the reason for dialogue is on the one hand for us to understand them but it's also for them to understand us," he says.

Source

• Religion News Service
• Irish Catholic
• Image: Washington Times