Vatican Returns 62 Indigenous Artefacts to Canada After a Century

The Vatican has officially returned 62 historic Indigenous artefacts to Canada, a century after they were taken from First Nations communities to be displayed in a missionary museum in Rome.

The artefacts were handed over on Saturday by Pope Francis to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), which says they will be delivered back to their original Indigenous communities across the country.

This move follows Pope Francis’ 2022 visit to Canada, during which Indigenous communities requested the return of sacred cultural items. It also comes three years after the Pope issued a landmark apology for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system, which he recognised as a form of “genocide” that suppressed Indigenous identity.

In a joint statement, the Vatican and CCCB said the Pope hopes the gesture “represents a concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity,” noting that the artefacts reflect the history of encounters between the Church and Indigenous cultures.

The items—collected from various Indigenous communities—were originally taken to Rome for a large 1925 missionary exhibition that featured more than 100,000 objects. Among the items returning home are a traditional Inuit whale-hunting kayak and a pair of embroidered Cree Nation gloves.

Canada’s Ambassador to the Holy See told CBC News that the artefacts are now in storage in Rome and will be transported to Canada on 6 December.

Once in Canada, the CCCB will transfer the artefacts to the country’s National Indigenous Organizations, who will ensure the items are returned to the correct communities. Many tribes have already prepared ceremonies to welcome their cultural heritage back home. The costs of repatriation have been prepaid by the Indigenous groups.

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly welcomed the decision, calling it “an important step that honours the diverse cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples and supports ongoing efforts toward truth, justice, and reconciliation.”

The items were previously housed in the Vatican’s ethnographic Anima Mundi Museum. Although the Church has described them as “gifts,” critics argue that such transfers occurred during periods when Indigenous spiritual practices were suppressed by both Canadian law and Church policies.