Vatican returns 62 items taken from Indigenous communities in Canada

"The Vatican has handed back 62 Indigenous artefacts to Canada's Catholic bishops, framing the move as a concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity after years of pressure from Indigenous communities seeking the return of cultural heritage removed under colonial rule. The items were formally transferred on Saturday during a meeting at Vatican City between Pope Leo and representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, including its president, Bishop Pierre Goudreault."

"The objects were sent to Rome nearly a century ago for a vast 1925 Vatican exhibition curated by Pope Pius XI, who sought to display the reach of Catholic missions and the cultures they encountered. Many pieces later became part of the Missionary Ethnological Museum before being absorbed into the Vatican Museums in the 1970s. The Vatican maintains the items were gifts to Pius XI."

The Vatican handed back 62 Indigenous artefacts to Canada's Catholic bishops, presenting the gesture as a sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity after longstanding pressure from Indigenous communities. The transfer occurred at a Vatican City meeting between Pope Leo and representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, including Bishop Pierre Goudreault. The bishops pledged to pass the objects to Canada's National Indigenous Organisations for return to their communities of origin. The items were sent to Rome for a 1925 Vatican exhibition curated by Pope Pius XI and later entered Vatican museum collections. Indigenous groups dispute that the pieces were voluntary gifts given the missionaries' influence and colonial-era confiscations that removed items used in spiritual and traditional rituals.

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