Pope Francis apologizes in Canada "for the evil that so many Christians did to the indigenous people"

• America Pope Francis begins his "pilgrimage of penance" to Canada

Pope Francis asked forgiveness on Monday "for the evil that so many Christians did to the indigenous people" during colonization and for the "cooperation" and "indifference" of the Catholic Church, during his visit to the town of

, where one was of the largest boarding schools in which the Canadian State organized the processes of "assimilation" of the children of the original peoples.

"To tell you, with all my heart, that I am deeply hurt: I apologize for the way in which, unfortunately, many Christians adopted the colonialist mentality of the powers that oppressed indigenous peoples," Francis said, seated among the

and before more than 2,000 people, including many victims of these boarding schools.

The Pontiff traveled to Canada following the invitation of the native peoples to apologize for the abuses perpetrated in the boarding schools managed, many of them, by the Catholic Church and where

, while it has been estimated that more than 4,000 died from abuse and disease.

Most buried in mass graves without any identification.

"I come to your native lands to tell you personally that I am hurt, to implore God's forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, to show you my closeness, to pray with you and for you," Francis said in Spanish, a petition that the indigenous greeted with applause.

He also hoped that his presence would serve to "work together, so that the sufferings of the past give way to a future of justice, healing and reconciliation", before adding that this visit is not a point of arrival but a starting point for this process.

The Pope, who prayed in the cemetery where many of the indigenous children who died at the Ermineskin school are buried, explained that "it is necessary to remember how the policies of assimilation and disengagement, which also included the system of residential schools, were disastrous for the people of these lands.

"They ended up systematically marginalizing indigenous peoples," he acknowledged, describing how "through the residential school system, their languages ​​and cultures were denigrated and suppressed; children suffered physical and verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse; they were taken from their houses when they were little and this indelibly marked the relationship between parents and children, between grandparents and grandchildren".

Francis puts on an indigenous tribal adornment at a meeting with Metis and Inuit communities, in Maskwacis (Canada).Gregorio BorgiaAP

And so in this place, which in the Cree language means

, the Pope, as he did in the Vatican when the representatives of the indigenous peoples met at the end of March, renewed his "request for forgiveness".

"To tell you, with all my heart, that I am deeply hurt: I apologize for the way in which, unfortunately, many Christians have adopted the colonialist mentality of the powers that oppressed indigenous peoples," he said to applause.

And he also apologized, "in particular, for the way in which many members of the Church and religious communities cooperated, also through indifference, in those projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation of the governments of the time, who ended up in the residential school system.

"I would like to repeat with shame and clarity: I humbly ask forgiveness for the evil that so many Christians committed against indigenous peoples," he insisted.

"Search for Truth"

Echoing some of the requests of the indigenous people to the Catholic Church, the Pope assured that in this

it will be necessary "a serious search for the truth about the past and help the survivors of the residential schools to carry out healing processes. of the traumas suffered.

The representatives of the first nations, the metis and the unit have asked the Catholic Church that

, that the archives be opened to investigate, as well as that they return some pieces of art that they They belonged to them and are in the Vatican Museums.

The Pontiff also apologized for not being able to visit other schools such as the one in Kamloops, where the remains of more than 100 children were found last year, as they had requested, but assured that he knows "the suffering, the traumas and the challenges of peoples indigenous in all regions of this country".

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