The meaning of Pope Francis' apology to Indigenous people

National Post, 01 April 2022

Sins confessed and contrition expressed is at the heart of the Christian faith, meaning that what took place in Rome was a profoundly religious act

Pope Francis expressed his “indignation and shame” in offering an apology to a delegation of Indigenous leaders “for the deplorable conduct of members of the Catholic Church” in relation to residential schools: “I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry.”

“We accept this apology,” said Chief Gerald Antoine, head of the Assembly of First Nations delegation.

For Christians — and most Indigenous Canadians are Christians — sins confessed, contrition expressed, forgiveness granted is at the heart of the faith, meaning that what took place in Rome was a profoundly religious act, even as there are cultural, political and economics dimensions too. Indeed, for the Holy Father the offences repented of were precisely a religious betrayal, which is the worst kind of betrayal for those who profess to follow Jesus.

“Clearly, the content of the faith cannot be transmitted in a way contrary to the faith itself,” Francis said. “It is a frightening thing when, precisely in the name of the faith, counter-witness is rendered to the Gospel.”

After spending more than four hours listening to testimonies from Indigenous leaders this past week in Rome, Pope Francis offered his sincere and far-reaching apology on Friday. What he said confirmed the value of this visit, the preparation for which began in 2019; the actual meeting was delayed until now due to the pandemic.

The Vatican meetings this week were also the final preparation for a papal visit to Canada to take place later this year, which Pope Francis suggested would take place around July 26, the feast of St. Anne, a traditional day for thousands of Indigenous Catholics to go on pilgrimage.

Though it is frequently denied today, Pope Benedict XVI offered an apology for Catholic participation in government residential schools in 2009, long before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Contemporaneous mainstream and Indigenous media accounts confirm that, however much revisionist history desires to ignore Catholic apologies dating back to 1991.

Friday’s apology had four particular dimensions for the Holy Father: the broad Indigenous history in the Americas, ideological colonization today, evangelization and the fundamental biblical context.

Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope, thinks about the Canadian Indigenous experience in the context of the entire colonial experience of the Americas. Though Canadians generally do not think of themselves in a hemispheric context, Latin Americans do.

“I say this to you with regret: many grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of God,” Pope Francis said in Bolivia in 2015. “I wish to be quite clear, as was Saint John Paul II: I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offences of the Church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America.”

The second dimension Pope Francis highlighted Friday was “forms of political, ideological and economic colonization (which) still exist in the world, driven by greed and thirst for profit, with little concern for peoples, their histories and traditions, and the common home of creation!”

Those who follow Pope Francis only casually may think he is speaking about resource extraction in developing countries, for example, the mining of rare earth minerals needed for the electric vehicles and smart phones of the wealthy. Rather by “ideological colonization” Pope Francis means the efforts of rich countries, including Canada, to use their wealth to force secular and liberal social values on poorer ones, often as a condition of aid.

Third, Pope Francis made clear that evangelization itself, the sharing of the Christian faith with Indigenous peoples in Canada, was not included in his apology. To the contrary, it was and remains a blessing.

“I think with gratitude of all those good and decent believers who, in the name of the faith, and with respect, love and kindness, have enriched your history with the Gospel,” Pope Francis told the Indigenous leaders.

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