FOG BLOG VATICAN LOG: POPE RECEIVES GIFTS FROM CANADIAN INDIGENOUS AS THEY RECEIVE APOLOGY FROM HIM!

First Nations delegate calls Pope apology for residential schools 'healing'.......On Friday, Pope Francis issued a historic apology. Speaking to a delegation of Indigenous people from Canada, he said he was asking for God's forgiveness for the Catholic Church's role in running a system of Canadian boarding schools where Native children were, in many cases, taken from their homes and abused....

PARKS: The system of boarding schools operated in Canada for roughly 100 years, starting in the late 1800s, and more than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families over that time and forced to give up their culture. Unmarked graves of hundreds of children have been discovered on the grounds of some of the schools in recent years.

Taylor Behn-Tsakoza is a member of Fort Nelson First Nation in British Columbia and was part of a delegation that travelled to Rome to meet Pope Francis last week. PARKS: First of all, you were there when Pope Francis issued this apology. Just tell me what that was like.

BEHN-TSAKOZA: Yeah. You know, I was in the third row. I was almost right in front of him. And it actually took a second for it to register that he said I'm sorry because he was speaking in Italian. And once the translation had come through and I realized it, you know, you could see on everyone's faces. Our eyes were big. You know, there was a little bit of some smirks on people's faces in terms of like, wow, he just said it.

PARKS: Can I ask - this is something - this apology is something Indigenous people have been asking of the Catholic Church for many years. Why do you think it took so long to come?

BEHN-TSAKOZA: You know, I would assume on the Catholic Church's side, you know, they were probably trying to hold out as long as they could, I'm sure. But, you know, last year, Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Nation had, you know, found 215 graves of children outside of their residential school. And since then, there's been four other schools that have done the same and have come out and said, you know, there are mass graves at these schools. And, you know, so I think that really pressured them, on top of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, on top of survivors openly sharing their stories over the years. So I think it's been - a lot of things have built up to that moment that he said those words.

PARKS: And as part of the apology, Pope Francis also promised to visit Canada. What would a visit like that mean to you, and what would you hope the pope takes away from a visit like that?

BEHN-TSAKOZA: That was also one of our asks in our private meeting, was that he come to Canada. We really just want him to understand and to really realize the impacts that these schools had. So - and also, his apology was also, to me, was like, a half-[expletive] apology because in his speech, he just says, you know, on behalf of those members of the church that committed this crime. But we wanted him to say, no, on behalf of the entire Catholic Church, on behalf of all Catholics. And he didn't say those words. So I'm hopeful that when he comes to Canada, he will take it that step further and actually say what we requested him to say, which was on behalf of himself and the Catholic Church, but he did not do that this time. So I'm hopeful that, you know, when he's on our land, that he will say that.