“The next steps are not solely the responsibility of the pope and Canada's bishops, who have pledged to promote access to records, educate on Indigenous cultures/spirituality, address systemic injustices today; and financially support initiatives that advance healing and reconciliation.”
“An Australian priest draws parallels with the residential schools in Canada and Australia's stolen children and insists what was perpetrated was, and remains, totally inconsistent with the teachings of Christ”
“"Despite this historic apology, the Holy Father's statement has left a deep hole in the acknowledgement of the full role of the Church in the Residential School system, by placing blame on individual members of the Church," Sinclair said in a statement.”
“there are those who don't want to know anything about it, who feel that it is too late to apologize. On the other hand, there are those who hope that the presence of Pope Francis on Canadian soil might be the beginning of concrete action. But this would be only the beginning of a process.”
“"For the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God's forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry," Pope Francis told a delegation of Aboriginal Canadians who were visiting Rome at the end of March and early April.”
“But can a pope really ask for forgiveness when it's been the Vatican's practice to leave the appropriateness of such apologies up to local bishops? And in what cases have popes issued their own apologies in the past?”
“The purpose of the Canadians' visit is to personally inform the pope on the huge scandal that broke out a few years ago over the physical and sexual abuse that indigenous children suffered between 1830-1996 at Catholic-run boarding schools.”
“In a gesture laying the groundwork for a papal apology to Canada's indigenous peoples, the Canadian bishops have again expressed remorse and asked forgiveness for the role Catholics played in the long, tragic saga of what have been called Indian Residential Schools. ”
“But they have grown appreciably worse after the discoveries of unmarked graves on the sites of former Indian residential schools in Kamloops, British Columbia, and Cowessess, Saskatchewan, in May and June. And there has plainly been an increase in anger across the nation:”
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My journey with Pope Francis: promise and possibility
A disastrous error, incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ
Pope’s apology to Canadian Aboriginals gets mixed reaction
Papal visit “only the beginning of a process” towards reconciliation
Asking forgiveness from Canada’s Indigenous peoples
When a pope asks forgiveness for wrongs from the past
Indigenous Canadians in Rome this week, hoping for a papal apology
Canada's Catholic bishops issue new apology over residential school scandal
The Wrong Men
