Canadian natives ask pope for return of artifacts stored in Vatican Museums

During his still-ongoing trip to Canada, Pope Francis formally apologized to indigenous peoples for the abuse they suffered: from the mid-nineteenth century and throughout most of the twentieth century, more than 150,000 indigenous children were forcibly removed from their homes and families to residential educational facilities by a collaboration between the Canadian government and the Catholic Church. As a result of physical and sexual abuse, a great many children died in these schools-a true cultural genocide of Native Canadians. The Vatican has admitted responsibility on the part of the church for the violence to Native tribes.

However, Canadian indigenous leaders are demanding the return by the Vatican of artifacts that came to Rome in the last century and are now preserved in the Vatican Museums in the ethnological section. Spokesperson for this desire was Phil Fontaine of the Sagkeeng First Nation and former national leader of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), who recalled that it was Pius XI in 1925 who had obtained a world exhibition of indigenous artifacts, with more than 100,000 objects, most of which were sent to Rome and never returned. members of indigenous communities have asked Pope Francis to oversee the return of these objects.

In fact,Cassidy Caron, president of the Métis National Council, said that “these objects belong to them and so they should go home.” “For so long we had to hide who we were. We had to hide our culture and our traditions to keep our people safe. At this moment when we can be publicly proud to be Métis, we are reclaiming who we are. And these historical pieces tell stories of who we were,” he added. Caron claims that many of the objects were taken away during a Catholic mission sent to Canada in 1925, prior to the large exhibition of artifacts at the Vatican.

For its part, the Vatican said the feathered headdresses, carved walrus tusks, masks and animal skins were gifts to Pope Pius XI. The debate is one of the cornerstones of this trip by Pope Francis and now “we will see what happens in the coming days,” said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. It is possible that indigenous peoples donated their works to Catholic missionaries, but historians question whether the artifacts were freely offered, given government policies aimed at eliminating indigenous traditions.

Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images

Canadian natives ask pope for return of artifacts stored in Vatican Museums

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