Vatican returning Indigenous artifacts to Canada as gift from Pope Leo

A historic collection of Indigenous artifacts held by Vatican Museums for a century was handed back to Indigenous groups across the country Saturday morning as a gift from Pope Leo XIV.

The announcement came from a joint statement between the Holy See and Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, saying that 62 artifacts were handed over as a “gift” and a “concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity.”

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The CCCB says an iconic Inuit kayak is among the objects being returned.

The Canadian Church says the gift was initiated by the late Pope Francis, who wanted to hand the artifacts to the CCCB in support of the group’s ongoing journey with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.

“(Pope Francis) came for the papal visit we all could see that he was really, really moved by the stories he had heard,” said Richard Smith, Archbishop of Vancouver, in an interview.

Smith, who was part of the delegation of Canadian bishops to meet with Leo for the return of the objects, added Francis had returned to Rome wanting to continue the reconciliation journey in Canada.

Pope Francis dons a headdress during a visit with Indigenous peoples at Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, Monday, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The late pontiff visited Canada in 2022, where he apologized to Indigenous communities for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools, saying he was sorry and ashamed for the abuses committed by some members of the Catholic Church as well as for the cultural destruction and forced assimilation that culminated in the schools.

Indigenous leaders had also travelled to the Vatican in 2022 to receive Francis’s apology for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. It was during that visit that Indigenous leaders were shown some of the artifacts, including the Inuit kayak as well as wampum belts, war clubs and masks, and asked for the items to be returned.

The items were sent to the Vatican 100 years ago for the 1925 World Missionary Exposition. They were part of the Vatican Museum’s ethnographic collection — known as the Anima Mundi museum — which has been a source of controversy for the Vatican amid the broader museum debate over the restitution of cultural goods taken from Indigenous peoples during colonial periods.

CCCB president Bishop Pierre Goudreault said in a statement the Pope’s gift is a “tangible sign of his desire to help Canada’s Bishops walk alongside Indigenous Peoples in a spirit of reconciliation during the Jubilee Year of Hope and beyond.”

The artifacts are expected to arrive in Montreal on Dec. 6 and will be transported to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa, where they will be reunited with their originating communities.

— with files from The Associated Press

Read more:

• Indigenous groups in Canada keen to see Pope Leo continue reconciliation work
• Whitecap Dakota First Nation receives pieces of long-lost history
• Tune in to Indigenous podcast Meeting Ground every Saturday