Pope Francis expressed closeness to all Canadian people traumatized by the shocking discovery of the remains of 215 children in the Kamloops Indian Residential School, Canada’s largest indigenous boarding school.
Though he spoke of pain and suffering, the pontiff avoided apologizing.
“I follow with sorrow the news coming from Canada,” Francis said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from the balcony in the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square. “I join the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my sympathy to the Canadian people, who have been traumatized by the shocking news.”
The pontiff said that the “sad discovery” further heightens “our awareness of the pain and suffering of the past,” urging Canada’s political and religious authorities to continue to work together with determination to shed light on this event and to “commit themselves humbly to a path of reconciliation and healing.”
Francis also said that the difficult times posed by the discovery of the remains in the Canadian State of British Columbia represent a strong call to “turn away from the colonizing model,” which also applies to what he called today’s “ideological colonization.”