'I humbly beg forgiveness': Pope Francis apologizes to Canada's Indigenous community


Pope Francis on Monday apologized to Indigenous groups in Canada for the Catholic Church's involvement in the forced assimilation of native peoples into Christian society, a historic moment of atonement in what the religious leader has described as a "penitential pilgrimage."
"I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples," the pope said, speaking at the site of a former residential school in Maskwacis, Alberta. "It is necessary to remember how the policies of assimilation and enfranchisement, which also included the residential school system, were devastating for the people of these lands," he continued.
The weeklong trip also comes as "the result of years of Indigenous requests for an official acknowledgment from the church," notes The Washington Post, calls for which intensified after hundreds of unmarked graves were uncovered near former schools last year. A government-funded report described the system — which "forced Indigenous children from their parents" and led to decades of abuse — as one of cultural genocide, add the Post and the Journal.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Operating from the 19th century to the 1970s, the residential school system traumatized roughly 150,000 Indigenous children. Conditions were horrible, and malnutrition, abuse, and death ran wild, reports The Associated Press.
Francis also hosted and apologized to an Indigenous delegation for the church's conduct within the schools back in April, though many argued his comments did not go far enough.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Today's political cartoons - March 28, 2025
Cartoons Friday's cartoons - national debt, debt of gratitude, and more
By The Week US Published
-
China's football crisis: what's happened to Xi's XI?
In The Spotlight String of defeats and finishing bottom of World Cup qualifying group comes a decade after Xi Jinping launched a football crusade
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weapons
The Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
By Abby Wilson Published
-
Pope returns to Vatican after long hospital stay
Speed Read Pope Francis entered the hospital on Feb. 14 and battled double pneumonia
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas megachurch founder charged with sex crimes
Speed Read Robert Morris, former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, is accused of sexually abusing a child
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
What happens when a pope dies?
In The Spotlight Vatican protocol on a pontiff's death is steeped in tradition and ritual
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Pope Francis suffers setback with respiratory episodes
Speed Read The 88-year-old pope continues to battle pneumonia
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US Christianity's long decline has halted, Pew finds
Speed Read 62% of Americans call themselves Christian, a population that has been 'relatively stable' for the past five years
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Pope Francis hospitalized with 'complex' illness
Speed Read The Vatican says their leader has a respiratory infection, raising new concerns about his health
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Aga Khan, billionaire spiritual leader, dies at 88
Speed Read Prince Karim Al-Hussaini's philanthropy funded hospitals, housing and schools in some of the world's poorest places
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
An ailing Pope Francis – and the vultures circling in the Vatican
Talking Point Caught between his progressive inner circle and an influx of conservatism, the Holy Father should 'brace' himself for a battle
By The Week UK Published