Pope Francis once again classified his visit to Canada as a “pilgrimage of repentance” and offered forgiveness for all the suffering the Catholic Church had inflicted on indigenous peoples in various parts of the country until the mid-1970s.
As the Pope began his address to Canada’s indigenous communities in Maskwacis, “I have come to your hometown to tell you personally about my pain, to ask God’s forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, to express my sympathy, and to pray with you and for you.” .
Trying to re-establish relations with indigenous communities, who were abused by the Catholic Church in assimilation campaigns, the Pope voiced “anger and shame” and called for “the pain of the past to be replaced by a just future”. , healing and reconciliation”.
According to the Pope, “the memory of those children saddens us and compels us to take action so that every child is treated with love, dignity and respect”.
“I humbly ask forgiveness for the evil that many Christians have committed against indigenous peoples,” he said. “I particularly apologize for the way in which many members of the church and religious communities cooperated indifferently in these projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation by governments of the time that culminated in the boarding education system.”
The leader of the Catholic Church recalled that “when European settlers first arrived there, there was a great opportunity to develop a fruitful encounter between cultures, traditions and spirituality.”
But, according to Francis, “policies of assimilation systematically marginalized indigenous peoples so that even through the boarding education system, their language and culture were humiliated and suppressed; children suffered physically and verbally, psychologically and spiritually”. being taken from their home when they were young,” indelibly points to the relationship between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren.
The harsh speech came after mass graves containing hundreds of unidentified bodies were found at former boarding schools run by the Catholic Church in Canada.
The first burials were found in May 2021 on the grounds of a former school in Kamloops, western British Columbia, revealing the never-healed wounds of the forced Christianization of Native Canadians.
“The place where we find ourselves resonates with a cry of pain, the hoarse scream that has accompanied me these months. I remember the drama of many of you, your families, your boarding-school communities,” he said.
Jorge Bergoglio explained that he realized that these are “traumas that, in a sense, are relived every time they are remembered” and that even today’s meeting “can awaken memories and wounds.”
However, he added, “it’s good to forget, because forgetting leads to indifference, and, as has been said, ‘the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference…or death’.
According to Pontiff, “remembering the devastating experiences that took place in boarding schools was angry, painful, but necessary,” mainly because it “was devastating for the people of this land.”
According to him, “the global consequences of policies linked to boarding schools were disastrous”. “What the Christian faith is telling us is that this is a devastating error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he admitted.
“It’s painful to know that these firm foundations of values, language and culture that give your people a true sense of identity are eroding and you continue to pay for their impact,” he said.
The Holy Father stressed that “In the face of this raging evil, the Church kneels before God and asks forgiveness for the sins of its children,” but explained to the natives of Canada that “his apology is not the destination, but for which he apologizes.” first step”..
“Many of you and your representatives have said that apologies are not a destination. I totally agree, they are just the first step, the starting point,” he said.
The Pope explained that an important part of this process is to seriously search for facts about the past and help boarding school survivors heal from their trauma. He also assured that he would continue to promote the devotion of all Catholics to the indigenous peoples.
Before the main ceremony, Pope Francis – using his wheelchair – visited the indigenous peoples’ cemetery, located a few meters from the old school of the Ermineskin. There, the Catholic leader prayed in silence for a few minutes and headed for Maskwacis Park.
Named Hobbema from 1891 to 2013, the Maskwacis region is in Alberta. It is home to reservations of the Western Canadian Indian Tribes group, the Four Nations of Maskwacis: Ermineskin, Louis Bull, Montana First Nation, and Samson.
The First Nations are the signatories of the 6th Treaty, one of 11 treaties signed by indigenous peoples – Firsts Nations – and the Canadian Crown between 1871 and 1921.
source: Noticias
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