VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis apologized Friday for the Catholic Church’s involvement in a system of Canadian boarding schools that abused Indigenous children for 100 years, an announcement that comes after the discovery last year of signs of unmarked graves with the remains of dozens of children.
“I feel shame and pain,” for the “deplorable” abuses, the pope said. “I ask forgiveness of God, and I join the Canadian bishops in apologizing.”
Francis also promised he would travel to Canada, where he would be better able to show “my closeness” as part of a process of healing and reconciliation.
Francis spoke during an audience at the Apostolic Palace with 62 delegates from Canada’s three largest Indigenous groups, who had traveled to the Vatican seeking his apology. This was the first apology to the Indigenous people of Canada from a pope and was a reversal of Francis’ earlier position.
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