Pope Returns Centuries-Old Artifacts To Canada's Indigenous Communities In Historic Gesture

Last Updated:November 15, 2025, 18:53 IST

Pope Leo personally handed over the items, along with supporting documentation, to representatives from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

Pope Leo XIV adjusts his skullcap during the opening of Dies Academicus. (AFP photo)

The Vatican on Saturday returned 62 artifacts 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 XIV personally handed over the items, along with supporting documentation, to representatives from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops during a special audience on Saturday.

In a joint statement, the Vatican and Canadian church described the gesture as a gift and a “concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity."

The objects are part of the Vatican Museum’s ethnographic collection, known as the Anima Mundi museum, which has long been at the centre of debates over the return of cultural property taken during colonial times.

Most of these items were sent to Rome in 1925 by Catholic missionaries for an exhibition in the Vatican gardens, held as part of that year’s Holy Year celebrations. The Vatican maintains that the artifacts were presented as “gifts" to Pope Pius XI, intended to honour the church’s missionaries and the Indigenous peoples they worked with.

However, historians, Indigenous leaders, and scholars have questioned whether the items could have been freely given, noting the significant power imbalances in missionary activities at the time. During this period, Catholic religious orders supported the Canadian government’s policy of forcibly assimilating Indigenous peoples—a policy the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has described as “cultural genocide."

Confiscated items, including ceremonial objects such as potlatch regalia, were often sent to museums in Canada, the United States, Europe, and private collections.

The process of returning the Vatican’s collection gained momentum after Pope Francis met with Indigenous leaders in 2022, following his formal apology for the church’s role in Canada’s residential schools. During that visit, leaders were shown items such as an Inuit kayak, wampum belts, masks, and war clubs, and requested their return.

Pope Francis later confirmed he supported the restitution of such objects on a case-by-case basis. The Vatican said the return coincides with the Holy Year, exactly 100 years after the original 1925 exhibition.

“This is an act of ecclesial sharing, through which the Successor of Peter entrusts these artifacts to the Church in Canada, recognising their connection to Indigenous cultures," said the joint statement. The Canadian bishops have pledged to safeguard the items, ensuring that the Indigenous communities themselves are the ultimate custodians.

(With inputs from AP)

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