Pope Francis recently apologized on behalf of the Catholic Church for the abuse of Indigenous people in Canada in residential schools. His apology is the first time a Catholic pope has recognized and apologized for the Church’s role in the cultural and material genocide of Indigenous people in Canada. Residential schools were colonial conversion camps in which Indigenous children were forced to assimilate to white European culture. They were forbidden from speaking their native languages, forced to abandon their cultural practices, and separated from their families. In these residential schools, many young children were physically–often sexually–abused, traumatized, and at times killed. 

Pope Francis joined survivors of these residential schools in a powwow held at the site of a former residential school. Pope Francis pushed for future work to acknowledge these abuses and begin the pathway toward healing for survivors and their families. This speech comes after decades of Indigenous advocacy work and calls for acknowledgment from the Catholic Church for its involvement. In fact, his speech was followed by applause as survivors thanked him for his words and celebrated. For the first time, the Church and its leaders were listening to Indigenous people and recognizing their past and present faults.

However, while significant, Pope Francis’s apology has also received criticism for not touching on the entirety of the Catholic Church’s actions, ignoring its particularly active participation and instigation in Indigenous genocide. For example, Pope Francis failed to mention the “Doctrine of Discovery,” a document doctored by the Catholic Church that declared Canada seizable by the English monarchy. The “Doctrine of Discovery” helped trigger the establishment of these residential schools and the forced assimilation and separation of Indigenous families and communities. Moreover, Pope Francis’s apology insinuated that these residential schools were the product of a few “bad apples” within the Church rather than the Church itself as a powerful, colonial power in its own right.

Survivors and advocates continue to demand accountability from Pope Francis and the Church as a necessary step in their justice efforts.