Yesterday, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the sexual abuse of native children in Canadian schools run by Catholic orders in that country, while the opening of this painful topic during his visit to Canada was expected by numerous victims of that system.
The Pope said this at the evening mass with priests and nuns in the cathedral in Quebec and pointed out that the church in Canada is on a new path after being “devastated by the evil committed by some of its sons and daughters”.
– I am thinking especially about the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable groups, a scandal that requires firm action and a strong commitment – said the pope during the penultimate day of his visit to Canada.
Cultural Genocide
– Together with you, I would like to once again ask for forgiveness from all the victims. The pain and shame we feel must become an opportunity to talk: never again! – he pointed out.
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It is the first time that the head of the Catholic Church has mentioned sexual abuse in Canadian schools, where between 1870 and 1996 more than 150,000 indigenous children were brought and separated from their families. Children were starved and physically abused for speaking their mother tongue, and many were sexually abused in a system that Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission called “cultural genocide.”
This recognition came after Pope Francis issued a historic apology on Monday in the Canadian town of Maskvacis, on the site of two former schools. The Pope called the Church’s role in these schools, as well as forced cultural assimilation, a “deplorable evil” and a “catastrophic mistake.”
Scandalous Evil
While the pope’s apology has drawn strong sentiments and praise as the first step toward reconciliation, it has also drawn criticism from victims of the system who feel it has fallen short of their expectations. Among other things, they criticized him for not mentioning the sexual abuse in his apology at the time.
“at an evening vespers service with priests and nuns in the Quebec City cathedral, the pope said the Church in Canada was on a new path after being “devastated by the evil perpetrated by some of its sons and daughters”, reported the USNews .
Earlier on Thursday, the Pope delivered his strongest views yet on the Catholic Church’s collective wrongdoing over school abuse of indigenous children.
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– Facing the scandalous evil and the body of Christ wounded in the flesh of our native brothers and sisters, we too experienced deep dismay, and we feel the burden of that failure – said the pope.
At the mass held on Thursday in the cathedral, which is also the oldest Catholic shrine in North America, three-quarters of the total of 1,400 seats were allocated to victims and former students of residential schools and other natives, while the rest watched the mass on large screens in front of the cathedral.
The office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that one of the topics of the meeting between him and the Pope on Wednesday was the need for the Catholic Church to take “concrete steps to bring back indigenous handicrafts, provide access to residential school documents, as well as to speak out on the doctrine of discovery and ensure justice for surviving victims”.
