“I humbly beg for forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians at the expense of indigenous people,” said the 85-year-old pontiff, who was applauded by the crowd.
THE Pope Francis apologized today for the harm done at the expense of aboriginal people in Canadaespecially in Catholic schools where children were abusedcalling forced cultural assimilation a “catastrophic mistake”.
Speaking at the former site of such a school in the community of Masquatchis in western Canada, the pontiff asked for forgiveness for the Roman Catholic Church’s support of the “colonial mentality” of those times, acknowledging that indigenous children “suffered physical and verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse ».
“I humbly beg for forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians at the expense of indigenous people,” said the 85-year-old pontiff, who was applauded by the crowd.
Between 1881 and 1996, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were removed from their families and placed in residential schools. Many of them were starved, beaten and sexually abused, with Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission calling it “cultural genocide”.
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