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

Pope Francis.
(Image credit: Cole Burston/Getty Images)

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.

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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.

Brigid Kennedy

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.