forgiveness for colonialism; the truth is not inculcated

The pain for the abuses committed in the residential schools, but also the steps towards reconciliation marked Francis’ encounter with the First Nations, Inuits and Metis in Canada. “Look at Christ crucified in his children and together with him, let us learn to walk together”.

Edmonton () – “Many Christians have supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that have oppressed indigenous peoples. It saddens me. I apologize.” The renewed request for forgiveness for the abuses committed -including by religious- in the system of residential schools for the assimilation of indigenous peoples was the highlight of the meeting that Pope Francis held yesterday with the First Nations, Inuits and Metis in the second day of his apostolic journey to Canada. The Pontiff delivered his speech in the Maskwacis reserve, after a silent pause in the cemetery, before the graves of children who were victims of this system promoted by local authorities to the detriment of indigenous peoples and in which the Church collaborated through their educational institutions.

The Pope stressed the importance of remembering this tragedy, which was also repeated in many other latitudes. When European settlers arrived in these lands, “he said,” there was a great opportunity to develop a fruitful encounter between cultures, traditions and spirituality. But largely this did not happen. And your stories come back to me: how assimilation policies ended up systematically marginalizing indigenous peoples; how, even through the boarding school system, their languages, their cultures were denigrated and suppressed; and how the children suffered physical and verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse; how they were taken from their homes as babies, and how this indelibly marked the relationship between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren”.

“Although Christian charity was present and there were quite a few exemplary cases of dedication to children,” he added, “the overall consequences of boarding school policies were catastrophic.” What the Christian faith tells us is that this was a devastating mistake, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

But asking for forgiveness for the past is only the first step in overcoming this hurt. We must see how to promote true reconciliation, overcoming the root of the evil that led to these contradictions in the Church. And it is the horizon that the Pope indicated in the afternoon, when he met again with the representatives of the indigenous peoples in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Edmonton-the church of the altar under the tepeethe store of the natives, where precisely the true acceptance of their cultures has become the path to a new encounter.

“I imagine how much effort any prospect of reconciliation implies for those who have suffered tremendously for men and women who should bear witness to Christian life,” Francis said frankly, “nothing can erase the dignity violated, the evil suffered, the trust betrayed.” Nor should our shame, that of believers, ever be erased. But it is necessary to start over, and Jesus does not propose words and good intentions, but the cross, that scandalous love that lets nails pierce its feet and wrists and pierce its head with thorns”. It is precisely this, for the Pope , the direction to follow: “to look together at Christ, the love betrayed and crucified for us; look at Jesus, crucified in so many residential school students. If we want to reconcile among ourselves and within ourselves, reconcile ourselves with the past, with the grievances suffered and the wounded memory, with the traumatic events that no human consolation can cure, our gaze must be raised to Jesus crucified, peace must be obtained from his altar. “.

Even so, the Pontiff also wanted to give a precise name to the evil that has led the men of the Church to commit such serious abuses: he said that it is the temptation of the “worldliness” of those who seek to “impose their own cultural model.” “In fact, it seems more convenient to inculcate God in people, instead of allowing people to get closer to God. But it never works, because the Lord does not act like that: he does not force, he does not suffocate and he does not oppress; on the contrary, He always loves, liberates and leaves free. He does not support with his Spirit those who subjugate others, those who confuse the Gospel of reconciliation with proselytism. Because God cannot be proclaimed in a way contrary to God”.

And the true task of the Church is precisely to show another way of being together. “It is the place where we stop thinking of ourselves as individuals,” he said, “to recognize ourselves as brothers by looking into each other’s eyes, embracing the history and culture of each one, letting the mystique of union, so pleasing to the Holy Spirit , favor the healing of wounded memories”. This is the way: not to decide for others, not to pigeonhole everyone into pre-established schemes, but to place oneself before the Crucified and before one’s brother to learn to walk together”.

“Jesus, crucified and risen, who lives in this people of yours who wishes to shine through our communities and cultures – the Pope concluded with an invocation – take us by the hand and, even in the deserts of history, guide our steps through the path of reconciliation.