Indigenous groups call on Pope Leo to return thousands of Vatican artifacts

The Vatican’s Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum holds thousands of Indigenous artifacts that were taken from communities across Canada by Catholic missionaries a century ago.

The Vatican Museums are among the world’s most popular, featuring vast art collections, including masterpieces by Michelangelo and Raphael, and drawing more than six million visitors every year.

But one exhibit in Vatican City is garnering attention for the wrong reasons.

The Vatican’s Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum holds thousands of Indigenous artifacts that were taken from communities across Canada by Catholic missionaries a century ago. Indigenous Peoples have long called for the artifacts to be repatriated, and in 2022, Pope Francis pledged to finally return them to Canada.

But following his death in April and the election of Pope Leo XIV, Indigenous leaders now worry Pope Francis’s promise may die with him.

“It could just be swept under the rug,” said Gloria Bell, a Canadian art historian, author and assistant professor at McGill University, who has Metis ancestry. “These belongings were stolen from Indigenous communities.”

In 1924, Pope Pius XI called on Catholic missionaries around the world to collect Indigenous artifacts and bring them to the Vatican. The following year, the artifacts were put on display as part of the Vatican’s Missionary Exhibition, a landmark event that promoted residential schools and the Church’s missions across the globe, which attracted around one million pilgrims and visitors.

The artifacts have since become a permanent collection at the Vatican. Global News toured the Amina Munda exhibit with Bell, who was on a visit to Rome to deliver lectures and expand her research on the artifacts’ origins.

The wide range of rare and priceless artifacts include a seal skin kayak and a wampum belt. Most of the items are currently held in storage, but dozens are on display. The Vatican exhibit calls them “gifts.”