Vatican returns traditional rites to Canadian Catholic bishops on ‘historic day’

A century-old Inuvialiait Kayak used for Beluga and whale hunting, along with 61 other cultural items from First Nations, Méti and Inuit communities are being held in Canada on December 6.

Papa leo xioni has the horns of The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), a joint statement by the Vatican and the conference said.

The announcement was made after a meeting at the Holy See between the Pope and the CCCB delegation, including its President, Archbishop Richard Smith, and Bishop Jean Vézina, general secretary.

“At the end of the journey established by Pope Francis that includes his apostolic journey in Canada in 2023, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, respect represents the symbol of the religion of dialogue, respect and” said the statement.

The Pope also presented the items to the CCCB, which is committed to ensuring that these artefacts are well protected, respected and preserved. “

“The CCCB will continue, as soon as possible, to transfer these artifacts to the indigenous organizations (NIOs). The nios will ensure that the artisans are integrated into their communities.

Joyce Napier is Canada’s ambassador to the Holy See who is part of the Canadian government’s effort to help restore cultural objects.

Calling the return of things a “Historical Day,” added Napier, “there are many discussions about the Vatican and the CcCB, and it was clear that the Vatican and the illness of Pope Francis slowed down the discussions for a while, he added temporarily.

Napier said the items, now on the middle level of the Vatican Museums, will be assembled in crates and flown to Montreal via Frankfurt, Canada on a December 6 flight.

From there, they will be sent to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que.

After years of calls for repatriation, the movement is seen as an important step for indigenous communities where their children have been taken for decades and forced to go to their residential schools, where abuse was rampant.

The return is planned as a gift of the church-to-Church “,” which Vatican spokesman, Matteo Brunis, how the Vatican returns cultural objects, allowing them to avoid setting the front of cultural objects or communities.

In 2023, a year after the visit of Pope Francis “o Pentententi” to Canada where he apologized for some members of the Catholic Church’s participation in residential schools, Francis agreed to the recognition of certain nations. During the meetings in Italy, the Prime Minister of Canada at the time, Justin Trudeau, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mélanie Joly pressed the Pope and the Vatican Secretary of State to return the cultural objects.

The kayak was among the 100,000 items originally sent to Rome in 1925 for a world exhibition organized by Pope Pius Xi, who invited Catholic missionaries to send “examples of their lives where men work. Other notable items include a wamvam belt from Kanestake, Que.

Many objects came from indigenous communities during forced conversions, cultural repression and the boarding school system in Canada, and most remained inside the storage rooms of the Vatican Museums.

Indigenous leaders insist that celebrations must take place before the artefacts make the journey home.

Some have criticized the “Church-to-Church” approach and insisted that communities be directly involved in the vision.