Pope pledges to return Indigenous artifacts to Canada
ITK ‘hopeful’ cultural items sent to Rome by missionaries a century ago will return ‘after too long’
Pope Leo XIV greets thousands of Catholic faithful after being introduced as the new pontiff, in May. He announced that 62 items housed in Vatican museums will be returned to Canadian Indigenous organizations, during a meeting with Canadian bishops on Saturday morning. (Photo courtesy of the Vatican)
After a century, Pope Leo XIV is preparing to return 62 Indigenous belongings back to the communities they came from.
Leo XIV announced the repatriation of the items Saturday during a meeting with Canadian bishops at the Apostolic Palace, the Pope’s residence in Vatican City.
The plan is to hand the items over to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is the national assembly of Catholic bishops in Canada. This group in turn has committed to delivering them to national Indigenous organizations.
“I would like to thank the national Indigenous organizations for their openness and collaboration in this work,” said Bishop Pierre Goudreault, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a news release Saturday.
“I assure them of the church’s unwavering commitment to reconciliation.”
Staff at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, who have been working with other Indigenous organizations to bring the items back to Canada since 2022, are withholding comment until the items are returned to the Indigenous communities they were taken from.
“We will be happy to talk about this experience in full when the journey is complete,” said Patricia D’Souza, communications director with the national Inuit organization, in an email.
In lieu of an interview with Nunatsiaq News, D’Souza forwarded a statement issued by the organization late last month, titled “Note on the expected return of cultural items from the Vatican.”
“We remain hopeful that we will soon see these historical treasures, including a 19th century kayak that rightly belongs in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of Canada, where its lessons and significance can benefit Inuvialuit culture and communities,” read the statement.
“We are pleased to have been able to work with First Nations and Métis to rediscover a number of cultural works of art that have been separated from their communities for too long,” the statement concludes.
The collection of Indigenous items had been sent to Rome between 1923 and 1925 by Catholic missionaries at the encouragement of Pope Pius XI.
The items will be returned to Canada in December, a statement from the Assembly of First Nations released Oct. 21 said.
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