The Vatican donated 62 historical artifacts to Canada that belonged to the country’s indigenous peoples and had been in museum collections for many years, as a gesture of respect and dialogue.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, yesterday received the Chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Canada, Pierre Goudreau, and Archbishop of Vancouver Richard Smith. During the meeting, the Pope presented the Canadian delegation with historical artifacts closely related to the culture of local indigenous communities.
Pope Leo XIV said he hoped the gesture would be “a concrete manifestation of dialogue, respect and fraternity.” According to Vatican News, the relics were sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries in 1923-1925 to participate in the Vatican Missionary Exhibition organized by Pope Pius XI in honor of the Jubilee Year of 1925, and after the exhibition ended they remained in museums.
Earlier, in 2022, Leo XIV’s predecessor, Pope Francis, publicly apologized for incidents of abuse and violence abuse of children from indigenous communities in Canadian residential schools that operated from 1831 to 1996.