Indigenous Artifacts Coming Home from the Vatican

 

Before the late Pope Francis visited several places in Canada in 2023 for a long overdue apology to Indigenous peoples a delegation went to the Vatican to discuss reconciliation. They had an opportunity to see some of the thousands of Indigenous artifacts in the Vatican museum, supposed gifts to popes of the past. They were given limited access to these pieces, many considered sacred to their original communities. Almost immediately and then following the visit by Francis there were calls to repatriate these treasures, most of which languished in store rooms. They are considered family members rather than artifacts in many Indigenous communities. 

                                                   Indigenous Delegation to the Vatican 2022

 During a later visit to the Vatican by then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau there was another request for repatriation. One of the more striking pieces in the collection was a skin kayak which arrived at the Vatican in 1925, perhaps transported on a whaling ship. 

Accorfding to a Globe and Mail article: 

Another high-profile artifact is a 229-centimetre-long wampum belt, which Vatican Museums catalogues say was “donated” to Pope Gregory XVI in 1831. The almost-200-year-old beaded belt, made from shells, is from Kanesatake, Que., and made a brief appearance at a Montreal museum in 2023 before being returned to the Vatican.

We've just heard that the Vatican is going to return many of these pieces, perhaps before the new year, and that for the time being they will be hosted  by the Canadian Museum of History.

Wampum belts were often created as visual representation of the treaties signed between Indigenous groups and the British Crown or. in some instances, the Roman Catholic Church. These treaties have been repeatedly violated by Church and Crown. Canadian governments continue to do so to the present day. The systemic terror of Residential Schools is a prime example of the way Christians betrayed both treaties and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We can pray that the repatriation of these pieces will revive the conversation about what it means to live up to the treaties and to uphold Indigenous sovereignty which was never relinquished.