The Pope’s Canadian Apology Tour: Some Say Just The Beginning.
The Pope embarked on a historic tour of Canada to apologize for the abhorrent religious schools run by the Church. (NPR.org)
“Years after a Canadian-government-funded commission issued findings detailing a history of physical and sexual abuse of Indigenous children in the country’s Catholic-run residential schools, Pope Francis on Monday issued an apology on Canadian soil.
”I am sorry,” the pope said, speaking in Maskwacis, Alberta, at the lands of four Cree nations.
”I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” Francis said near the site of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School, where ground-penetrating radar has been used to try to locate unmarked graves of students who died while attending the school.”
Many view the Pope’s apology tour as an important step in promoting reconciliation between the Church and First Nations people and other only see a small step in need of much more. However it is viewed, the tour is historic and more than likely will lead to greater dialogue between institutions and the the victims of those institutions that has been a very long time coming. Eventually, the conversation and actions may get to a point that truly heals old wounds but that may take another century.
