Pope Francis has just completed a six-day tour of Canada, taking part in a public ceremony in Iqualuit, an Inuit town, located in the Far North. Throughout this trip devoted largely to the First Nations, the sovereign pontiff has never ceased to apologize for the abuses committed by religious personnel in the residential schools run by the congregations to take care of indigenous children.
” I apologize, I’m sorry “. On several occasions, Pope Francis repeated these formulations during his public interventions, whether in Spanish, English, or even in Inuktituk, the language of the Inuit, reports our correspondent in Montreal, Pascale Guericolas.
For the last stage of his trip, the 85-year-old pontiff traveled to Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut in the Canadian Far North, where he was welcomed to the sound of Inuit throat singing, in the middle of colorful houses. In this small town accessible only by plane and where just over 7,000 people live, mainly indigenous people, the pope spoke of the “great suffering” of those forcibly placed in boarding schools aimed at “ kill the indian in the heart of the child “.
penitential pilgrimage
The sovereign pontiff also recalled that he was performing a penitential pilgrimage thinking of the children abused in religious boarding schools for natives. Abuses inflicted not only by a few Catholics according to him.
While some residential school survivors believe that the Pope’s visit to Canada will allow them to begin a healing process, others expected more. They would have liked Francis to recognize the institution’s responsibility for the abuse suffered by several generations of children.
On several occasions, protesters have also called for the revocation of the Doctrine of Discovery. This papal bull, dating from the 15th century, authorizes the colonizers to appropriate the territories if they carry out missionary work.
“ The pope’s apology was not complete »
Many aboriginal people say that there is still a long way to go and that this is only the first step in a long process of healing. In Iqaluit, many were also waiting for specific answers from the pope about Father Johannes Rivoire, who for many has become a symbol of the impunity of sexual aggressors protected by the Church. A case that the pope did not mention in his speech.
►Also read: The Pope visits Indigenous communities in Canada: “I want more than an apology”
This French priest, who spent three decades in the Canadian Far North, is the subject of an arrest warrant, but he has so far never been worried. He left Canada in 1993 and lives in France, in Lyon. For Kilikvak Kabloona, president of the Nunavut Tunngavik organization which represents the Inuit of Nunavut, “ the pope’s apologies were not complete “.
” They failed to address sexual abuse and failed to recognize the institutional role of the Catholic Church in protecting abusers, this protection allows sexual violence to thrive “, she believes. ” We would like Rivoire to be extradited to Canada to face his charges in court and we have asked the Pope to intervene to ask him to return to Canada “, she adds again. An Inuit delegation has also planned to go to France in September.
(With AFP)