Pope Francis apologizes for Catholic Church’s role in residential school system

Pope Francis apologized today for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential school system.

After private meetings between Pope Francis and First Nations, Inuit and Metis delegates this week, all parties met the Pope at the Vatican on Friday.

In remarks following that meeting, the pontiff said the words so many have waited so long to hear.

“I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry,” he said.

Beginning in the late 1800s, approximately 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend residential schools, facilities that aimed to replace their languages and culture with English and Christian beliefs. The schools were set up by the Canadian government and most were run by the Catholic Church.

Numerous cases of abuse and at least 4,100 deaths have been documented at the former residential schools, where thousands of confirmed and unmarked graves have been found. Canada’s last residential school closed in 1996.

Pope Francis previously indicated a willingness to travel to Canada, though no date for such a visit or where the visit would take place has been announced.

Since the late 1980s, several apologies have been made by different church groups, including former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2008 and the RCMP in 2004 and 2014 — each acknowledging their role in the operation of residential schools.

In 2017, during a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the head of the Catholic Church to apologize for its involvement in Canada’s residential school system. But the following year, the church issued a letter stating the Pope would not deliver an apology.