The Pope has once again expressed "shame and pain" during the third day of his trip through Canada by "the evil committed by so many Christians against indigenous peoples"while condemning the "deplorable system" of boarding schools for this group, "promoted by the government authorities of the time".
Francis made these statements after getting back on a plane to go to Quebec, where the welcome ceremony with the country’s authorities took place at the Residence of the Governor General of Canada, in the "Citadel of Quebec".
It is the official residence of Mary Simon, the first indigenous person to hold the position of Governor General of Canada (the representative of Queen Elizabeth of England, equivalent to the head of the Canadian State), a position created 154 years ago to represent the Queen of England in the North American country.
Mary Simon was born in 1947 in an Inuit town in the Nunavik region. She worked on public radio for Arctic communities and was president of the organization that represents Inuit nationally. She was also Canada’s ambassador to Denmark and the country’s representative on the Arctic Council.
Francis has also met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In his speech, the pontiff once again deplored the policies of assimilation and disengagement carried out in the country, which included the residential school system and which harmed many indigenous families, undervaluing their language, their culture and their vision. of the world.
About them he has clearly said that "several local Catholic institutions were involved" and has expressed "shame and pain". "Together with the bishops of this country, I renew my request for forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against indigenous peoples."has assured.
And has added: "If the Christian faith has played an essential role in shaping the highest ideals of Canada, characterized by the desire to build a better country for all its inhabitants, it is necessary, admitting one’s faults, to commit together to do what I know all of you share: promote the legitimate rights of the native peoples and promote processes of healing and reconciliation between them and the non-indigenous of the country".
For the Pope, it is necessary "respond appropriately" to calls from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whose work began in 2008 to document the history and lasting impacts of Canada’s residential school system on children and their families. Among other things, it provided an opportunity for residential school survivors to share their experiences at public and private gatherings across the country.
The Pope has stated that the Holy See and the local Catholic communities "maintain a concrete will regarding the promotion of indigenous cultures, with specific and appropriate spiritual paths, which include attention to their cultural traditions, their customs, their languages and their own educational processes, in the spirit of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples".
"It is our wish to renew the relationship between the Church and the indigenous peoples of Canada, a relationship marked both by a love that has borne great fruit and also, unfortunately, by wounds that we are striving to understand and heal."has assured.
Similarly, he criticized "ideological colonizations" also adopted by the Catholic Church. "If at the time the colonialist mentality disregarded the concrete life of the peoples, imposing pre-established cultural models, today there is no lack of ideological colonizations that contrast the reality of existence and that suffocate the natural attachment to the values of the peoples, trying to uproot their traditions, its history and its religious ties"he lamented.
At this point, he pointed out that "it is tragic when some believers, as happened in that historical period, do not adapt to the Gospel but to the conveniences of the world".
For Francis, it is a mentality that, boasting of having overcome "the dark pages of history"accommodates the so-called "cancellation culture, which judges the past only in terms of certain current categories".
"Thus, a cultural fashion is implanted that standardizes, that makes everything the same, that does not tolerate differences and focuses only on the present moment, on the needs and rights of individuals, often neglecting the duties towards the weakest and most fragile; the poor, the emigrants, the elderly, the sick, the unborn… They are the ones forgotten by welfare societies; it is they who, in the general indifference, are discarded like dry leaves to be burned"has denounced.
And he reminded the importance of "promote human communities that are not uniform, but are truly open and inclusive".
For this reason, after apologizing to the First Nations, Metis and Inuit of Canada for the abuses suffered over a century with the complicity of the Catholic Church, the pontiff has had the usual and formal meeting with the civil authorities of Canada, among them the Diplomatic Corps and also the representatives of the indigenous populations.
PILGRIMAGE OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
This Wednesday’s session precedes his stay in Edmonton, the city where the official plane that took him to Canada landed, participating in the traditional pilgrimage of indigenous communities to Lake Santa Ana, about 72 kilometers from the Canadian city.
The pilgrimage, dedicated to the mother of Mary, is one of the most important spiritual gatherings for the faithful of North America and the Holy Father, last April at the Vatican, receiving delegations from indigenous peoples, he had clearly expressed his desire to be with them this time.
In a wheelchair, due to his knee problems that prevent him from walking, the Pope arrived at a small pier and there he made a special blessing to the water of the lake and that the native peoples understood very well: looking in an easterly direction. Thus began his blessing of the four cardinal points, since the indigenous people traditionally pray following the path of the sun.
He also blessed a sculpture of the Virgin ‘Maria Untie Knots’, the work of Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz, an allegory of human difficulties, symbolized as knotted ribbons, which the Virgin unties and unties like a mother who helps her children. Schmalz is known throughout the world for his works ‘Jesus without a roof’, present in more than 140 cities around the world, and ‘Angels without knowing it’, installed and blessed by Pope Francis in 2019 in Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
