#Hearing #Canada #Native #American #horror #slapped #Pope
Pope Francis on Wednesday likened hearing first-hand stories of abuse by Indigenous victims in Catholic-run schools in Canada to being slapped in the face.
Many children were physically and sexually abused in schools, and thousands are believed to have died from disease, malnutrition or neglect, in what Francis described as “genocide” after his trip to Canada.
The pope returned on Saturday from a six-day visit during which he met First Nations, Metis and Inuit officials to apologize for what he called the “evil” being committed at Catholic-run boarding schools.
“I assure you that during these meetings, especially the last one, I felt the pain of these people like slaps in the face,” Francis said during the weekly general audience at the Vatican.
The 85-year-old said it was “a painful moment” to hear from “elderly people who have lost children and don’t know where they are”.
He ended his Canadian tour Friday in the capital of the vast northern territory of Nunavut, Iqaluit, where he again asked forgiveness for abuse at the 139 church-run residential homes.
About 150,000 indigenous children were sent there from the late 19th century to the 1990s.
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