Pope Francis on Monday asked for forgiveness “for the evil that so many Christians did to indigenous peoples” during colonization, as well as for “cooperation” and “indifference” Catholic Churchduring his visit to the city of Maskvatsis, where one of the largest boarding schools is located, in which the Canadian state organized the processes of “assimilation” of children original cities.
“To tell you from the bottom of my heart that I am deeply hurt: I apologize for how, unfortunately, many Christians adopted the colonial mentality of the authorities who oppressed indigenous peoples,” he said. francisco sitting among representatives of First Nations chiefs and in front of more than 2,000 people, including the many victims of these internees.
The pontiff went to Canada after the invitation original cities come and apologize for the abuses committed at boarding schools, many of which Catholic Church and where nearly 150,000 children were separated from their families while over 4,000 are estimated to have died from abuse and disease. Most are buried in mass graves without any identification.
“I am coming to your native land to tell you personally that it hurts me, to beg God for forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, to show you my closeness, to pray with you and for you,” he said. francisco in Spanish, a request that was met with applause by the indigenous people.
He also hoped his presence would serve to “work together so that the suffering of the past gives way to a future of justice, healing and reconciliation”, before adding that this visit is not a point of arrival, but a starting point for it. process.
asking for forgiveness
dadpraying in a cemetery where many of the indigenous children who died in the ermine school are buried, explained that “it must be remembered that the policy of assimilation and disengagement, which also included a system boarding schoolswere detrimental to the inhabitants of these lands.
“They ended up systematically marginalizing indigenous villages”, he acknowledged and described how “through the boarding school system their languages and cultures were vilified and suppressed; children were subjected to physical and verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse; they were taken away from home when they were young, and it marked indelibly the relationship between parents and children, between grandparents and grandchildren.”
And in this place, which in the Cree language means “bear hill”, dadhow did he do it Vatican when at the end of March representatives indigenous villagesresumed his “apologies for forgiveness”.
“To tell you from the bottom of my heart that I am deeply hurt: I apologize for the way that, unfortunately, many Christians have adopted the colonialist mentality of the powers that oppressed indigenous villageshe said applause.
He also apologized, “in particular, for the way in which many members of the Church and religious communities cooperated, including through indifference, in those projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation of the governments of that time that ended up in residential buildings.” school system.
“I would like to repeat with shame and clarity: I humbly ask for forgiveness for the evil that so many Christians have committed against indigenous villages”, he insisted.
Answering some requests natives to Catholic ChurchThe Pope assured that this process of reconciliation will require “a serious search for the truth about the past and helping boarding school survivors to carry out healing processes for their traumas.”
Representatives of First Nations, Métis and Unit turned to Catholic Church that perpetrators can be tried in schools, that archives be open to investigations, and that certain works of art that belonged to them and are in Vatican Museums.
The pontiff also apologized for not being able to visit other schools, such as the school in Kamloops, where the remains of more than a hundred children were found last year, but assured that he was aware of the “suffering, trauma and problems of indigenous peoples.” ..” in all regions of the country.
(EFE)
Source: RPP
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