Pope apologises to Indigenous Canadians, moots visit in July

Pope Francis has apologised to the Indigenous people of Canada for the Catholic Church’s abuse of them.

“For the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness.

“I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry,’’ Head of the Catholic Church told representatives of various Indigenous groups at the Vatican on Friday.

“And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon,’’ the 85-year-old continued.

Canada has been rocked by the gruesome discoveries of hundreds of children’s bodies near former Catholic boarding schools from May 2021.

They triggered outage at the Catholic Church, which between the 17th century and the 1990s placed Indigenous children, who had been snatched from their families in the institutions.

Francis met this week with several of Canada’s Indigenous groups, including the Métis, Inuit and First Nations.

Among other things, they asked that the Pope participate in their processing.

“I ask you again to join me in praying so that we can start our deliberations and discussions,’’ said First Nations representative Fred Kelly.

Feeling shame at the role various Catholic Church leaders had and the abuse and lack of respect for Indigenous identity and culture, the Pope said.

Francis also said he wanted to visit the people in their territories, indirectly announcing a trip to Canada.

He named the commemoration day of Saint Anne, the grandmother of Jesus, for this, which would be at the end of July.

“This year I would like to be with you on those days,” Francis declared.

In 2021, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded that the pontiff come to Canada and apologise after the discovery of the graves. (dpa/NAN)