US EditionPope returns 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada as part of reckoning with colonial past
- On November 15, 2025, the Vatican returned 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada in Vatican City, formally transferring them to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- Following Pope Francis' 2022 audiences with Indigenous leaders, talks intensified after his apology for residential schools, while most items were sent by Catholic missionaries for the 1925 Vatican Missionary Exhibition.
- The artifacts are held in the Vatican Museums' Anima Mundi ethnographic collection and include an Inuit kayak, wampum belts, war clubs and masks; the Vatican calls them `gifts` to Pope Pius XI, but historians and Indigenous groups question if they were freely offered.
- Experts will first examine the objects at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, and the CCCB pledged to safeguard them until transferring to National Indigenous Organisations soon.
- The move comes during the Jubilee of 2025 and the centenary of the 1925 exhibition, with a Vatican statement acknowledging complicity but not rescinding the papal bulls.
55 Articles
55 Articles
Pope returns Indigenous artifacts from Vatican Museums to Canada
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Leo XIV fulfilled a promise made by the late Pope Francis to return to Canada’s Indigenous communities artifacts — including an Inuit kayak, masks, moccasins and etchings — that have been held by the Vatican for more than 100 years. The pope gave 62 artifacts to the leaders of the Canadian bishops’ conference Nov. 15, the Vatican and the bishops’ conference said in a joint statement. The bishops “will proceed, as soon a…
In a gesture of "reconciliation", 62 objects exhibited at the Vatican will be returned to Canada's Aboriginal communities on December 6.
Vatican returns 62 artefacts connected to indigenous peoples from Canada
The Vatican on Saturday returned 62 artefacts to indigenous peoples from Canada as part of the Catholic Church’s reckoning with its role in helping suppress indigenous culture in the Americas. Pope Leo gave the artefacts, including an iconic Inuit kayak, and supporting documentation to a delegation of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops during an audience. According to a joint statement from the Vatican and Canadian church, the pieces we…
A sacred pipe returns to Whitecap Dakota First Nation after 135 years
More Indigenous communities across Canada are reuniting with items that were taken or given away generations ago. The Vatican and the Canadian Catholic Church are reportedly working on an agreement to return about 100,000 Indigenous items Catholic missions sent to Rome in the 1920s.
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