Pope apologizes for church abuse of indigenous children

Pope Francis issued an apology Monday for the role the Roman Catholic Church played in government-run schools that meant to assimilate native children into Canadian culture until the 1970s. At least 150,000 children were forced to attend the schools, where Ottawa has admitted that abuse was rampant. The Catholic Church ran 66 of the 139 schools in the country. Francis said that while there was some Christian kindness, the schools were a “disastrous error” that didn’t represent the gospel. He also called for further investigation.

What did the ceremony look like? Francis is participating in a weeklong “penitential pilgrimage.” Four chiefs escorted him to pray at a cemetery and then give the apology at powwow ceremonial grounds. Thousands of people came and chanted along to war songs, victory songs, and finally a healing song.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD Archives, read Samantha Gobba’s report in Compassion on the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves near former residential schools for First Nations children.