Pope Francis expresses ‘sorrow’ but offers no apology for Canada residential school deaths – By Darryl Coote (UPI) / June 7 2021
“We deserve an apology for the thousands who never came home and the thousands who were stolen and abused,” said Nahanni Fontaine, an indigenous member of the legislative assembly of Manitoba.
June 6 (UPI) — Pope Francis expressed sorrow on Sunday over the remains of 215 children found buried late last month at the site of a former Canadian residential school, but did not apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the treatment of Indigenous children at those institutions despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging him to do so.
Before those in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Francis called the remains’ discovery at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia “shocking” and that he joins others in the Catholic Church in “expressing my closeness to the Canadian people” who have been traumatized by this revelation.
“This sad discovery further heightens awareness of the pain and sufferings of the past,” he said. “May the political and religious authorities in Canada continue to work together with determination to shed light on this sad event and humbly commit themselves to a path of healing and reconciliation.”
I join the Canadian Bishops and the whole Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the Canadian people, who have been traumatised by shocking discovery of the remains of two hundred and fifteen children, pupils at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) June 6, 2021
