Last week I wrote in anticipation of the visit to Canada by Pope Francis for a series of apologies regarding the Roman Catholic complicity in the soul-destroying Residential School system. The events took place in several places across the country, including a visit to the site of a former school and a mass in Edmonton that attracted in the neighbourhood of 60,000 people.
Pope Francis did apologize, several times, and I have no doubt that he was genuine in his words. As part of the first apology he said:
Today I am here, in this land that, along with its ancient memories, preserves the scars of still open wounds. I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry. Sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples. I am sorry. I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the Church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.
Sadly, frustratingly for many Indigenous persons, never did Francis acknowledge that it was the Roman Catholic church as an institution which systemically participated in these grievous crimes, or that the church was integrally involved in the realities of colonization. As you can see, he said that he was sorry for the ways in which individuals within the church were perpetrators of wrongdoing. The distinction wasn't accidental, it seems to me.
Si Pih Ko spontaneously sang in Cree to Pope Francis after his apology in Maskwacis on Monday says she did it for her family members affected by residential schools.The unscripted singing came after the Pope was gifted a headdress that he wore on stage.
On the flight back to Rome overnight Francis was candid with reporters, as he often is, conceding that what happened to Indigenous peoples in Canada was genocide, something he never said explicity during the past week. Genocide cannot be perpetrated by a bunch of "bad apples", it requires a determined level of commitment on the part of institutions, which is what happened across this land. Some Indigenous commentators won't used the term Residential Schools because it suggests that their purpose was education. They see them as a system of incarceration and extinction of culture -- genocide.
What will come next? Other popes have issued supposedly heartfelt apologies which did not result in a change of culture in the church or restitution. Pope Benedict's lengthy apology to those harmed by the Roman Catholic church in Ireland is cited as an example -- lots of talk, little action.
Among the numerous expectations for the Roman Catholic church is a renunciation of the Doctrine of Discovery, actually a series of papal declarations beginning in the late 15th century which spuriously justified the invasion and colonization of lands in different parts of the world and the subjugation of Indigenous peoples.
This renunciation, along with repatriation of Indigenous sacred items, and reparations in various forms might mean that healing and reconciliation can occur. It's not too late, although many of the survivors of abuse and cultural genocide are aged. Now Pope Francis, now.
Here is Indigenous activis Cindy Blackstock's post-apology "to do" list which is pointed and comprehensive.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/07/26/Post-Apology-To-Do-List/
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