Pope Francis has expressed his pain over the discovery in Canada of the remains of 215 indigenous students of church-run boarding schools and pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on "this sad affair."
But he didn't offer the apology sought by the Canadian prime minister.
Francis, in remarks to faithful gathered in St Peter's Square on Sunday, also called on the authorities to foster healing but made no reference to .
From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools, the majority of them run by Roman Catholic missionary congregations, in a campaign to assimilate them into Canadian society.
The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant in the schools, with students beaten for speaking their native languages.
Ground-penetrating radar was used to confirm the remains of the children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, last month. The school was Canada's largest such facility and was operated by the Catholic Church between 1890 and 1969.
"I am following with pain the news that arrives from Canada about the upsetting discovery of the remains of 215 children," Francis said in his customary Sunday noon remarks to the public.
A woman mourns over 215 pairs of kids shoes outside Vancouver Art Gallery during a memorial on 29 May, 2021 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Source: Getty
"I join with the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the Canadian people traumatised by the shocking news," Francis said.
"This sad discovery adds to the awareness of the sorrows and sufferings of the past," he added.
Part of a small Toronto memorial honouring the recently discovered mass grave at the Kamloops Residential School. Source: Getty
Worldwide travesty
Indigenous leaders and school survivors on Sunday dismissed Pope Francis’ expressions of pain, saying the church needed to do much more.
"We're all pained and saddened. Who isn't? This is a worldwide travesty," Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations in Saskatchewan, Bobby Cameron, told Reuters.
"How hard is it for the Pope to say: 'I'm very sorry for the way our organisation treated the First Nations people, the First Nations students during those times, we are sorry, we pray.'"
Kamloops survivor Saa Hiil Thut, 72, said people have not been held responsible for the suffering he endured during his years at the school.
"The culprits sort of get off scot-free," he said.
"The Pope won't say, 'You know what? I heard there was (thousands of) cases of physical and sexual abuse in those residential schools run by our church.' He won't say that. He won't say 'There's 215 children in an unmarked grave in Kamloops and probably every residential school in Canada.'"
The Pope's statement "does not go far enough," said a spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett on Sunday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits a memorial in Ottawa on 1 June. after the remains of 215 indigenous children were found at a former residential school in Kamloops. Source: AAP
“(The) government calls again upon the Pope and Church to apologise for their role.”
On Friday, Mr Trudeau blasted the church for being "silent" and "not stepping up," and called on it to formally apologise and to make amends for its prominent role in his nation's former system of church-run indigenous boarding schools.
Francis' comments spoke of healing but not of apology.
"May the political and religious authorities continue to collaborate with determination to shed light on this sad affair and to commit humbly to a path of reconciliation and healing," he said.
