Vatican returns artifacts, reconciles with indigenous communities in Canada

(CLO) The Vatican has handed over 62 artifacts to Canada, marking a new step in the reconciliation process with the indigenous community in this country.

The Vatican on Saturday returned 62 artifacts related to Canada's Indigenous people to the country's Catholic bishops, in what the Vatican described as a "concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity," according to a statement.

Pope Leo XIV. Photo: CC BY-SA 4.0

Pope Leo presented these artifacts to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) after meeting with their representatives.

According to the CCCB, the council will soon transfer these artifacts to National Indigenous Organizations (NIOs), and the NIOs will ensure their return to Canadian Indigenous communities.

Catholic missionaries sent these artifacts to Rome for the 1925 exhibition organized by Pope Pius XI, which displayed more than 100,000 objects.

Nearly half of these artifacts later became the basis for a new Missionary Ethnographic Museum and were transferred to the Vatican Museums in the 1970s.

In 2022, the late Pope Francis made a historic apology to Canada's Indigenous people ahead of his visit to the country, addressing the Catholic Church's past responsibility in residential schools where many children suffered abuse and were buried in unmarked graves.

The repatriation of Indigenous artifacts from the Vatican Museums is also part of a reconciliation process between the Catholic Church and Indigenous community leaders in Canada.

Source: https://congluan.vn/vatican-tra-lai-co-vat-hoa-giai-voi-cong-dong-nguoi-ban-dia-o-canada-10317938.html