Pope reiterates forgiveness to indigenous peoples

Quebec, Canada, Jul 27 (EFE).- Pope Francis reiterated Wednesday his request for forgiveness from the country’s indigenous people for the evil that did the Catholic Church, but said there are new colonizations such as the so-called cancel culture “which does not tolerate differences.”

The Holy See leader spoke after listening to Canada Governor Mary Simon and the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after arriving Wednesday in Quebec

He started the trip in Edmonton with a ceremony before indigenous representatives. He apologized for the “cooperation and indifference” of the Church in those boarding schools where 150,000 indigenous children were torn from their families and it is estimated that more than 4,000 died from mistreatment and disease.

In the citadel of Quebec, the incredible fortress that is the secondary residence of the Governor General of Canada, and after meeting with both leaders, he reiterated the reason for his trip and expressed his “shame and pain” and his request for forgiveness “for the evil committed by so many Christians against indigenous peoples.”

“I am thinking especially of the policies of assimilation and disengagement, which included the residential school system and which harmed many indigenous families, undervaluing their language, culture and worldview,” he said.

He also said there are new colonizations that he called “ideological” and that change “the concrete life of peoples, imposing pre-established cultural models.

And he then cited among them “the so-called cancel culture,” which judges the past only based on certain current categories.”

For Francis, “this is how a cultural fashion is implanted that standardizes, that makes everything the same, that does not tolerate differences and focuses solely on the present moment, on the needs and rights of individuals…” EFE

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