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Vatican returns to Canada artefacts connected to Indigenous people
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 15, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 15, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
The Vatican returned 62 artefacts to Canada's Indigenous peoples, symbolizing dialogue and respect. The artefacts will be transferred to National Indigenous Organizations.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -The Vatican on Saturday returned 62 artefacts connected to the Indigenous peoples of Canada to the country's Catholic bishops, offering what it called "a concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity", a statement said.
Pope Leo gifted the objects to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops following a meeting with their representatives including their president, Bishop Pierre Goudreault.
"The CCCB will proceed, as soon as possible, to transfer these artefacts to the National Indigenous Organizations (NIOs). The NIOs will then ensure that the artefacts are reunited with their communities of origin," the Canadian bishops said.
Catholic missionaries sent the artefacts to Rome on the occasion of a 1925 exhibition held by Pope Pius XI that displayed more than 100,000 objects. Nearly half of them later formed a new Missionary Ethnological Museum and were transferred to the Vatican Museums in the 1970s.
In 2022, the late Pope Francis issued a historic apology to Canada's Indigenous peoples ahead of his visit to the country for the Catholic Church's role in residential schools where many children suffered abuse and were buried in unmarked graves.
The repatriation of the native artefacts held at the Vatican Museums was also part of the talks between the Church and the Indigenous leaders.
(Reporting by Angelo AmanteEditing by Gareth Jones)
Cultural heritage refers to the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society, including traditions, customs, and values that are inherited from past generations.
Indigenous peoples are the original inhabitants of a region, with distinct cultural practices, languages, and social structures that are often tied to their ancestral lands.
Repatriation is the process of returning cultural artifacts or human remains to their country or community of origin, often as a means of addressing historical injustices.
A statement in a formal context is a clear and concise declaration or announcement made by an organization or individual, often outlining beliefs, intentions, or actions.
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