The Vatican issues an apology—sort of.
In his first visit to the country, Pope Francis toured Canada from July 24 to 29. Francis’s main purpose for visiting was to address the growing publicity of Canada’s residential school scandal. Part of his visit was the giving of an official papal apology in the town of Maskwacis, Alberta. This is the nation’s first papal visit in 20 years.
Residential schools were government-sponsored, mostly church-run schools established throughout Canada. They were intended to help support the assimilation of indigenous (Indian) peoples into Canadian society. Assisting the integration of more underdeveloped cultures may sound innocuous, but residential schools were often places of horrific abuses. Indigenous children were often forcibly removed from their families to attend the schools. Physical and sexual abuse were rampant—even torture. One school in northern Ontario punished students with a homemade electric chair. Typically located in remote areas, far from prying eyes, the clergy-run schools could often do what they wanted, sometimes even against the wishes of suspicious Indian Affairs agents.
Read more at “Pope Francis Apologizes for Canadian Residential Schools”