Boarding schools for natives: the pope recognizes a “genocide”
The sovereign pontiff asked “pardon” to the Amerindian populations, victims according to him of a crime against humanity.
Pope Francis in Saint-Anne-du-Lac, near Alberta in Canada, July 26, 2022.
KEYSTONE/EPA/CIRO FUSCO
Pope Francis recognized a “genocide” in the tragedy of residential schools for natives in Canada, on his return from a six-day trip during which he repeatedly asked “forgiveness” from the Native American populations.
“I didn’t say the word (during the trip) because it didn’t come to mind, but I described the genocide. And I apologized, asked forgiveness for this process which is a genocide”, declared the pope during a press conference on the plane bringing him back to Rome.
“Yes, genocide is a technical word. I didn’t use it because it didn’t come to mind. But I described what, it is true, is a genocide”, he insisted.
«Pardon»
Throughout his visit, the pope asked “pardon” on several occasions for the role played by “many Christians” in this system set up by the governments of the time but mainly managed by the Catholic Church.
Some 150,000 children were forcibly recruited there. Many suffered physical or sexual abuse, and thousands never recovered, victims of disease, malnutrition or neglect.
“This mentality that we are superior and the natives don’t matter is serious.”
Asked about the “doctrine of discovery”, the 15th century papal edicts that authorized European powers to colonize non-Christian lands and peoples, the pope deemed this “doctrine of colonization” “wrong” and “unjust”.
“This mentality that we are superior and the natives don’t matter is serious. For this, we must work in this direction. Go back and clean up all that has been badly done, but being aware that today too, there is the same colonialism, ”he replied.
In Quebec and then in Iqaluit, in the Arctic archipelago, natives had displayed placards and banners during gatherings in the presence of the pope to ask to “revoke” this doctrine.
No longer travel at the same pace
Pope Francis, 85, reduced by severe knee pain forcing him to move around in a wheelchair, confided that he could not “travel” at the same pace as before, also mentioning the possibility of “putting himself in side”.
“I believe that at my age, I have to spare myself in order to be able to serve the Church.”
“I don’t think I can maintain the same pace of travel as before. I believe that at my age, and with these limits, I must spare myself in order to be able to serve the Church, or on the contrary think about the possibility of putting myself aside”, he declared during a conference of press on the plane bringing him back from his trip to Canada, on the night of Friday to Saturday.
“In all honesty, it’s not a disaster. We can change popes. This is not a problem. But I believe that I have to limit myself a little, with these efforts”, added the pope in front of the journalists on the return of his 37th international trip since his election in 2013.
“This trip was a bit of a test: it’s true that you can’t travel in this state, maybe you have to change the style a bit,” he admitted, while confiding that he “would try to continue to travel, to be close to people, because it is a way of serving, closeness”.
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