The Vatican returned 62 artefacts linked to Canada’s Indigenous peoples to the country’s Catholic bishops, describing the gesture as "a concrete sign of dialogue, respect, and fraternity," according to a statement on Saturday.
Pope Leo presented the items to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) following a meeting with its representatives, including President Bishop Pierre Goudreault. The CCCB announced that it would transfer the artefacts to the National Indigenous Organizations (NIOs) as soon as possible, with the NIOs tasked with returning the items to their original communities.
The artefacts were originally sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 exhibition held by Pope Pius XI, which displayed more than 100,000 objects. Nearly half of these items were later used to create a new Missionary Ethnological Museum, which was moved to the Vatican Museums in the 1970s.
In 2022, Pope Francis issued a historic apology to Canada’s Indigenous peoples for the Church's role in residential schools, where many children endured abuse and were buried in unmarked graves. The repatriation of the artefacts was also part of the ongoing dialogue between the Church and Indigenous leaders.
Canada’s Foreign Minister, Anita Anand, praised the Vatican’s action, calling it "an important step that honours the diverse cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples and supports ongoing efforts towards truth, justice, and reconciliation," she said in a post on X.
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