Canada’s bishops working to get Catholic Church statement on Doctrine of Discovery

The pontiff did not directly mention the Doctrine of Discovery when he delivered his apology to residential school survivors in Maskwacis, Alta., on Monday.

Canada’s bishops are working with the Vatican in the hope of issuing a new statement from the Catholic Church on the Doctrine of Discovery, the organizers of the papal visit said Wednesday.

Many Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors had hoped Pope Francis would renounce the policy, which stems from a series of edicts, known as papal bulls, dating back to the 15th century. Countries, including Canada, have used the doctrine to justify colonizing lands considered to be uninhabited, but were in fact home to Indigenous Peoples.

The pontiff did not directly mention the Doctrine of Discovery when he delivered his apology to residential school survivors in Maskwacis, Alta., on Monday, which has prompted criticism it failed to fully recognize the role played by the Catholic Church in the residential school system.

Laryssa Waler, a spokeswoman for the papal visit, said Wednesday the Vatican has previously said the papal bulls linked to the doctrine have “no legal or moral authority” within the church.

“However, we understand the desire to name these texts, acknowledge their impact and renounce the concepts associated with them,” she wrote in an email.

“Galvanized by the calls of our Indigenous partners, and by the Holy Father’s remarks, Canada’s bishops are working with the Vatican and those who have studied this issue, with the goal of issuing a new statement from the church,” she added. “Canada’s bishops continue to reject and resist the ideas associated with the Doctrine of Discovery in the strongest possible way.”

She also referred to parts of the Pope’s apology that she said “directly condemned” policies linked to the Doctrine of Discovery. She said that included when he said “many members of the church and of religious communities co-operated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.”

Earlier, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said the “gaps” in the pontiff’s apology cannot be ignored.