LPope Francis has recognized a “genocide” in the tragedy of residential schools for Aboriginals in Canada, on his return from a six-day trip during which he repeatedly asked “forgiveness” from the Amerindian populations. “I didn’t say the word (during the trip) because it didn’t come to mind, but I described the genocide. And I apologized, asked forgiveness for this process, which is genocide,” the pope said during a press conference on the plane taking him back to Rome.
“Abduct children, change culture, change mentality, change traditions, change a race, let’s put it like that, a whole culture,” added the Argentine sovereign pontiff in reference to boarding schools for indigenous children (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) established in Canada between the end of the 19e century and the 1990s. “Yes, genocide is a technical word. I didn’t use it because it didn’t come to mind. But I have described what, it is true, is genocide,” he insisted.
The “doctrine of discovery” is “wrong and unjust”
Throughout his visit, the pope asked “forgiveness” for the role played by “many Christians” in this system set up by the governments of the time but mainly managed by the Catholic Church. Some 150,000 children were forcibly recruited there. Many suffered physical or sexual abuse, and thousands never recovered, victims of disease, malnutrition or neglect.
Asked about the “doctrine of discovery”, the papal edicts of the XVe century which authorized European powers to colonize non-Christian lands and peoples, the pope deemed this “doctrine of colonization” “bad” and “unjust”. “This mentality that we are superior and the natives don’t matter is serious. For this, we must work in this direction. Go back and clean up all that has been badly done, but being aware that today too there is the same colonialism,” he replied. In Quebec and then in Iqaluit, in the Arctic archipelago, natives had unfurled signs and banners during the gatherings in the presence of the pope to ask to “revoke” this doctrine.
Pope says he won’t be able to ‘travel again’ as before
Pope Francis, 85, reduced by severe knee pain forcing him to move around in a wheelchair, confided that he could “no longer travel” at the same pace as before, also mentioning the possibility of “putting himself in side “.
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“I don’t think I can maintain the same pace of travel as before. I believe that at my age, and with these limitations, I have to spare myself in order to be able to serve the Church, or on the contrary think about the possibility of putting myself aside,” he declared during a conference of press on the plane bringing him back from his trip to Canada, on the night of Friday to Saturday. “In all honesty, it’s not a disaster. We can change popes. This is not a problem. But I believe that I have to limit myself a little with these efforts,” added the pope to journalists on his return from his 37e international travel since his election in 2013.