Pope Francis says the Church in Canada was on a new path after being 'devastated by the evil perpetrated by some of its sons and daughters.'
QUEBEC, Canada – Pope Francis on Thursday, July 28, asked for forgiveness for sexual abuse at Canadian schools for indigenous children run by Catholic orders, addressing a deep wound that many survivors wanted him to acknowledge during his apology tour in Canada.
“Together with you, I would like once more to ask forgiveness of all the victims. The pain and the shame we feel must become an occasion for conversion: Never again!” But that apology, while evoking strong emotion and praise as a first step in reconciliation, was also criticized by survivors for falling short of what they had hoped for. Lack of a mention of sexual abuse was among their grievances. Since then, the pope has continued to elaborate on his apology and has alluded to institutional failure by the Church in allowing abuse to run rampant at the schools – addressing another criticism by survivors.
“In confronting the scandal of evil and the Body of Christ wounded in the flesh of our indigenous brothers and sisters, we too have experienced deep dismay; we too feel the burden of failure,” the pope said.At the start of the Mass, two indigenous women unfurled a banner asking him to formally rescind 15th century edicts, known as the doctrine of discovery, in which the papacy justified the taking of indigenous land in the New World.
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