{"id":6914,"date":"2022-04-01T10:33:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T14:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/news\/news-2\/canadas-catholic-bishops-welcome-pope-francis-apology-indigenous-peoples\/"},"modified":"2022-04-01T10:33:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T14:33:38","slug":"canadas-catholic-bishops-welcome-pope-francis-apology-indigenous-peoples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/news\/news-2\/canadas-catholic-bishops-welcome-pope-francis-apology-indigenous-peoples\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Catholic Bishops Welcome Pope Francis\u2019 Apology to Indigenous Peoples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n\n

The Holy Father expressed \u201csorrow and shame\u201d for the abuse and lack of respect for Indigenous identities, culture and spiritual values in the residential school system. He said, \u201cI ask for God\u2019s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon.\u201d
\n 
\n\u201cWe are deeply grateful to each of the Indigenous delegates who travelled with us to the Holy See to share their experiences and desires for a brighter future for their people,\u201d said Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) President, the Most Rev. Raymond Poisson. \u201cThe Holy Father has heard first-hand the stories of those who suffered at the hands of Catholic Church members, and has responded with compassion, remorse, and a genuine desire for truth, justice, and healing.\u201d
\n 
\nThe Holy Father\u2019s apology was informed by private encounters between March 28th and April 1st with 32 Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers, residential school survivors and youth from across Canada. 
\n 
\nDelegates shared a range of lived experiences including from their time in residential schools, the resulting loss of culture and language, and complex relationships with the Catholic faith that continue to this day. Through shared prayers, the exchange of gifts and the telling of powerful stories, Pope Francis was moved by their courage, their commitment and their resilience in the face of suffering. He emphasized his shame for the Catholic Church\u2019s role in the residential school system, and re-committed to visiting with them on Canadian soil.
\n 
\nThe delegation follows more than three years of dialogue between Canada\u2019s Catholic Bishops and Indigenous partners, including the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the M\u00e9tis National Council (MNC), and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), with a goal of learning and discerning how best to support them on the journey of healing and reconciliation. As this dialogue is ongoing, we have taken several important steps to support a more hopeful future, including a $30 million pledge towards healing and reconciliation initiatives, a commitment to ensure residential school documents are made available to survivors, and ongoing work to provide education for our clergy, consecrated men and women, and lay faithful, on Indigenous cultures and spirituality.
\n 
\n\u201cAs Catholics, we believe in the restorative power of apologies. But acknowledging wrongdoing is only one step of the healing journey. We all have a role to play in healing the wound that was opened up through a history of colonialism and must be  deeply committed to this responsibility,\u201d said CCCB Vice President, the Most Rev. William McGrattan. \u201cAs we prepare for the Holy Father\u2019s eventual pilgrimage to Canada, the relationships forged this week and the lessons learned from Indigenous delegates will continue to guide and inspire us.\u201d
\n 
\nWe heard a call from Dr. Wilton Littlechild to walk where there\u2019s no path and create a new one for people to follow. Every delegate who courageously spoke to their experiences has taken up this call, and we are grateful that Pope Francis responded in kind. We look forward to walking on this path together. 
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source The Holy Father expressed \u201csorrow and shame\u201d for the abuse and lack of respect for Indigenous identities, culture and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nouvelle"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}