What lead to the historic papal apology? How the Catholic Church has changed its tone
Global News
"The church is being challenged to speak in a language it's not used to speaking in. There have been some missteps along the way."
First Nations, Inuit and Metis residential school survivors, knowledge keepers, elders, and youth have wrapped up meetings with Pope Francis at the Vatican with an historic apology.
The delegation was there to renew calls for the Pope to apologize for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in residential schools.
On Friday, the Pope said: “I am very sorry.” He also said he will come to Canada, but a date has not been set.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its 94 calls to action in 2015. Among them was a request for an apology from the Pope and for the apology to take place in Canada within one year of the release of the report.
A number of individual Catholic organizations, parishes and bishops have apologized to Indigenous children and their families for the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse the church inflicted on youngsters forced to attend the schools. One of the most recent apologies was issued last September by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
A common argument for why it took so long for an apology is that the issue was already addressed, say some experts.
In 2009, a small delegation led by Phil Fontaine, former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, met with former pope Benedict to discuss the abuse and trauma at residential schools with the hope of securing an apology. Benedict expressed “sorrow” for what happened but did not apologize.
Christopher Hrynkow, a professor in the department of religion and culture at St. Thomas Moore College in Saskatoon, says some in the Catholic community saw this as enough of an apology. But he says the TRC asked for something different.
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