First Nations bring painful stories to Pope Francis in hopes of a new beginning

National Post, 01 April 2022

Indigenous Canadians met with Pope Francis in Rome to share their stories and offer their shared memories about the painful experience of residential schools.

VATICAN CITY — Phil Fontaine, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, professing himself “extremely happy” with the Thursday’s events in Rome, expects that Pope Francis will be in Canada this summer to offer an apology related to residential schools. It was the second of three days of Indigenous encounters with the pope, in which he heard hard truths spoken in a gracious manner.

The telling of stories, the offering of testimonies, is an essential part of the spiritual patrimony of all cultures, including the Indigenous cultures of Canada. It also has a particular resonance for Jews and Christians, for whom the telling of stories, the making present of memories, is at the core of their scriptures and worship.

All of that was evident this week in Rome as Indigenous Canadians met with Pope Francis to share their stories and offer their shared memories about the painful experience of residential schools.

Indigenous leaders — Metis, Inuit and First Nations — met in separate hour-long audiences with Pope Francis this week. Veterans of the Vatican press corps could not remember any delegation in recent decades that was given four audiences and more than four hours of the pope’s time in a single week. And they got more than that, as Thursday’s encounters was extended to two hours from the scheduled one hour, reflecting something of the priority Pope Francis gave to the meeting.

Those encounters were an opportunity for Pope Francis to listen firsthand to what Canadian bishops have briefed him about over the years. A briefing, no matter how well done, is not the same as a personal testimony.

The delegates related that Pope Francis was attentive and comforting. For those who may have been brushed off over the years by government and ecclesial authorities, it may have been a welcome surprise.

Pope Francis has spent more time listening to those who have suffered abuse than most. In a 2018 encounter with priests, he revealed that he meets several times a month with abuse victims, usually on Fridays, away from cameras to respect the privacy of all. This week delegates who had attended residential schools experienced that personal encounter with affection, delicacy and respect.

While the week’s encounters allowed delegates to speak privately with the Holy Father, they were free to discuss their experiences with the considerable media contingent covering the visit.

Not that the stories were new; some of the Indigenous delegates have been speaking of their residential school experiences for decades. And their request for a papal apology in Canada is well known.

Yet the telling of the story, the testimony of a witness, is not important because it is new; rather each time it is offered anew it makes present something of its original importance. To tell the story makes the past new, as it were, offering the possibility, in these circumstances, of a new beginning.

Continue reading at the National Post.