POPE MUST APOLOGIZE IN WAKE OF KAMLOOPS DISCOVERY

I think Pope Francis, whatever his motivation, has disappointed many of his most loyal supporters. As a Roman Catholic, I wish he could have spoken more directly to the issue of accountability.

Although the current pope had no involvement in the setting up or management of residential schools, he does represent the church for many of us, and he must know that his response to the Kamloops discovery would be crucial. I have no insight into the pope’s thinking on this or any other matter, but I’m hoping he will have something more pontifical to say in due course.

The residential schools represent one more side of the European colonization effort, which was aided and abetted by Christian denominations. Spanish, Portuguese and French colonizers were supported by the church of Rome, while Belgium, Germany and Holland used Protestant missionaries to assist in the invasion of many lands in the Americas, Africa and Asia. European entrepreneurs wanted access to minerals and to agricultural real estate; the missionaries wanted “souls for Christ.” The net result was, and remains, a vast and unremedied injustice.

Residential schools were intended to wipe out the so-called “pagan” cultures of Indigenous peoples, and to prepare them to become consumers of Eurocentric culture, including Christianity. There are still those who consider this to have been a good thing, but most of us, I think, have been dismayed by the cruelty, the inhumanity, the colossal injustice of European colonial invasions around the world. For most of us, such cultural destruction and distortion are plainly wrong, unjust and yes, grievously sinful. We have no hesitation in expressing our sense of outrage.

Whatever considerations may be holding Pope Francis back from an unambiguous condemnation of the residential school system, I pray that he will soon overcome his hesitancy and bring the full weight of his residual pontifical authority down on the side of justice. While his influence is less today than in previous generations, he still retains the loyalty of millions of humans. We will be relieved to hear the judgment of this thoughtful and sensitive leader.

Ed Healy Marystown