Indigenous leaders in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis say they hope the Vatican continues to advertise the reconciliation efforts he championed throughout his papacy.
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon says the pontiff’s apology for widespread abuses within the residential faculty system was a major step in addressing historic injustices.
Canada’s first Indigenous governor normal led the Canadian delegation on the funeral this morning, the place she mirrored on Francis’s monumental go to in 2022 to succeed in out to Indigenous Peoples.
She and Wilton Littlechild, a residential faculty survivor who served as a commissioner for the Fact and Reconciliation Fee of Canada, say they hope Francis’s successor continues these efforts.
Simon known as the apology “a major milestone” on the “journey of reconciliation,” whereas Littlechild mentioned there’s a must “elevate our work on reconciliation.”
They have been among the many dignitaries and spiritual trustworthy who bid farewell to Pope Francis and remembered his efforts to succeed in out to marginalized communities together with migrants, the poor and the sick.
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“I hope that the brand new pope will keep on the work that Pope Francis was doing,” Simon mentioned Saturday, reached by cellphone in Rome hours after the funeral.
“The apology was a major milestone, and now we have to proceed working collectively on the journey of reconciliation. The truth that he got here to Canada and apologized on Canadian lands, on Indigenous lands, was very vital.”
Littlechild mentioned it’s vital to proceed that work for “our therapeutic journeys.”
“I’m hoping that there will likely be a continuation with the brand new pope not having to start out over, however proceed, however elevate the work by way of actually difficult ourselves and one another,” he mentioned.
The papal go to in July 2022 was described as a “penitential pilgrimage” as a result of Pope Francis insisted on assembly with Indigenous survivors of residential faculties and listening to their tales.
In Maskwacis, Alta., Francis begged for forgiveness and expressed disgrace for abuses dedicated by some members of the Church. In Nunavut, he met survivors who showcased conventional practices banned in residential faculties, together with dancing, drumming and throat singing.
Pope Francis adjusts a standard headdress he was given after his apology to Indigenous folks throughout a ceremony in Maskwacis, Alta., as a part of his papal go to throughout Canada on Monday, July 25, 2022.
Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press
Whereas the go to was acknowledged as a milestone, some criticized Francis for not naming the crimes and abuses. Others known as for motion, such because the return of sacred artifacts held by the Vatican.
Simon mentioned it’s vital for the Vatican to proceed efforts at reconciliation.
“It’s an extended course of, however you see issues shifting ahead. And I hope that can proceed to occur.”
About 150,000 Indigenous kids have been compelled to attend residential faculties, greater than 60 per cent of which have been run by the Catholic Church.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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