In a school run by the Catholic Church in the Canadian province of British Columbia, they were found remains of 215 native children. They would be found in a tomb unknown to the political and religious authorities.

This educational institution was one of many founded in the territory a century ago, with the alleged intention of welcome and educate the children of the natives. Most of them, as mentioned earlier, were administered by the Church.

Approximately 150,000 children and youth from local Indigenous populations, such as Inuit and Métis, they were enrolled in the 139 boarding schools created especially for them and distributed throughout the country of North America.

The most resounding cases of sexual abuse denounced against the Catholic Church

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the discovery a “a shameful chapter” in the history of his country. Immediately afterwards, he addressed the Catholic Church with “force”, asking “clarity and “accountability” for decades of abuse.

He also denounced the fact that these schools, where generations of indigenous children were raised, their only goal was “to erase their roots and assimilate them into the mainstream culture”. If the church does not cooperate, the government will take “hard measures”.

The ruling party maintains that the ecclesiastical leadership provide reports and/or records containing facility information. Otherwise, could sue to obtain the evidence requested by the families of the victims.

Pope Francis’ Response to Discovery in Canada

In the same vein, the Sovereign Pontiff asked the political and religious authorities of Canada to “clarify” what had happened. francisco expressed his “pain” and his “closeness” to the victims and invited to investigate the “shocking news”.

“I follow with pain the startling discovery of 215 students of the Klamloops Indian Residential Schoolhe later said, “I join the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the people of Canada.

He argued that the bloody event helps to “strengthen awareness of past pain and suffering”. “Canadian political and religious authorities must continue to work with determination to arrive at the truth,” he continued.

Jorge Bergoglio underlined that “these difficult times represent a strong alarm signal for all of us, for move away from the colonizing model, but also from the ideological colonizations of todayand walk together in dialogue”.

“We entrust to the Lord the souls of all the children who died in residential schools in Canada and we pray for the families and the Canadian indigenous communities broken by the pain. Let us pray in silence”, he finally asked the congregants.

The pope also met from the Vatican with the two Canadian cardinals who work in the organs of the Holy See, Michael Czerny and Marc Ouellet, and appointed Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic as the new apostolic nuncio in Ottawa.

JFG