The Pope apologized to indigenous peoples at an event in Canada. Around 150,000 indigenous children were forced into schools run by the Catholic Church.
20:21•Updated 20:36
Pope Francis has apologized for decades of child abuse and oppression in schools run by the Catholic Church in Canada.
The pope made the long-awaited apology at a ceremony held near the Catholic school on the former Ermineskin Indian reservation in Maskwacis.
The Pope said he was deeply saddened by the abuse of children. He apologized and hoped for forgiveness and reconciliation.
He stated that the suppression of culture and the forcing of children into boarding schools has had a devastating effect on several generations of indigenous peoples.
The Pope apologized several times for the bad deeds Christians did to the indigenous peoples. The Pope stated that the Catholic Church had destroyed the culture of the indigenous peoples.
The apology was heard by thousands of indigenous people. There were victims of abuse and their relatives.
Indigenous children were treated unfairly in schools run by the Catholic Church in Canada. Around 150,000 children were forced into 139 boarding schools from the end of the 19th century to the 1990s.
In schools, children were isolated from their families and culture. The goal was to assimilate the children of the indigenous peoples into the mainstream population. School teachers sexually abused children.
According to the research commission, more than 4,000 children died in Catholic Church schools from diseases and neglect.
Last year, the graves of 215 children were found in the yard of a former boarding school in British Columbia. In total, 1,300 unmarked graves have been found near the former schools.