Pope apologizes to Indigenous people in Canada for abuse in Catholic schools

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Members of the Assembly of First Nations perform in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31. Pope Francis hosted First Nations delegations at the Vatican. They sought excuses for the role of the Catholic Church in running Canada’s notorious residential schools for Indigenous children.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Members of the Assembly of First Nations march in St. Peter’s Square at the end of their meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, March 31.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Former Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine stands outside St. Peter’s Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Former Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine, left, stands outside St. Peter’s Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Former Chief Phil Fontaine, center, flanked by Assembly of First Nations Northwest Territories Regional Chief Gérald Antoine, speaks to reporters outside St. Peter’s Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, March 31.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Assembly of First Nations member Rosanne Casimiro Ttes speaks to reporters outside St. Peter’s Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Members of a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations meet reporters outside St. Peter’s Square following a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, March 31.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Members of the Assembly of First Nations perform in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Indigenous artists from across Canada perform in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Friday, April 1. Pope Francis on Friday issued a historic apology to Indigenous peoples for the ‘deplorable’ abuses they suffered in Canada’s Catholic residential schools and said he hoped to travel to Canada in late July to apologize in person to survivors of the Church’s misguided missionary zeal.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Left to right, Gerald Antoine, NWT First Nations Regional Chief, Natan Obed, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Delegation Chair, and Cassidy Caron, Métis Community Chair, walk in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican after their meeting with Pope Francis, Friday 1 April.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Left to right, Gerald Antoine, NWT First Nations Regional Chief, Natan Obed, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Delegation Chair, and Cassidy Caron, Métis Community Chair, walk in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican after their meeting with Pope Francis, Friday 1 April.

• ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Left to right, Gerald Antoine, NWT First Nations Regional Chief, Natan Obed, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Delegation Chair, and Cassidy Caron, Métis Community Chair, walk in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican after their meeting with Pope Francis, Friday 1 April.

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