Pope Francis visits Canada to apologise

Pope Francis says sorry - 15th August 2022

Pope Francis has made an important trip to Canada. He needed to say sorry for what had happened in Canada’s Catholic schools.

In the last century, there were more than 130 Catholic residential schools in Canada. The children who went there were ‘indigenous'. Indigenous peoples are the first people who lived in North America. They include the Métis, Inuit and First Nations people.

The Roman Catholic church managed most of the schools, but they were paid for by the Canadian government. The last school closed in 1996.

The goal of the schools was to destroy the indigenous peoples’ way of life. Over 150,000 children from indigenous societies were placed in the schools. They were made to forget their own culture and they weren’t allowed to speak their own languages. The teachers were often very unkind to the children, who received little food or medicine. Hundreds died, far away from their families.

Last year, the bones of many dead children were found at one old school. Indigenous communities have now discovered at least 1,000 graves across Canada.

Pope Francis has spoken of his sadness about the past. He hopes his visit will repair the church’s relationship with indigenous peoples. Saying sorry is the first part of a long process.