Pope Francis visited Alberta, Canada begged forgiveness from Indigenous People in a long-overdue apology on behalf of the Catholic Church. From the NY Times:
MASKWACIS, Alberta — Pope Francis offered a sweeping apologydirectly to Indigenous people on their land in Canada on Monday, fulfilling a critical demand of many of the survivors of church-run residential schools that became gruesome centers of abuse, forced assimilation, cultural devastation and death for over a century.
“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” Francis said to a large crowd made up largely of Indigenous people, some wearing traditional clothing and headdresses, in Alberta, near the site of a former residential school.
In the speech, he addressed the schools directly, but also the overall issues of colonialization:
He said he was “deeply sorry” — a remark that triggered applause and approving shouts — for the ways in which “many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples.”
“I am sorry,” he continued. “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.”
He also said that the apology was not the end of the matter and spoke of action going forward, both to further investigate the church’s past behavior and to find ways to help the survivors.
(Apologies for brevity, and for duplication if this has been diaried elsewhere — I looked but did not see anything.)
www.nytimes.com/...
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Update: I appreciate the skepticism of the comments here. I was raised Catholic, though I left the church 45 years ago. The church has a long history of talking a good game for a little while, then backsliding a few centuries. I feel like the chances of righting some of its wrongs are better with this Pope, but those wrongs are so great that it’s going to take more than one person.
As I said in a comment below: I don’t see this as anything more than a first step, and if it goes no further it’s almost worse than doing nothing. Doing nothing says they don’t see that there’s a problem so of course there’s nothing to do. Admitting there’s a problem then doing nothing says that you just don’t give a shit.