Pope returns 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples of Canada in continued reckoning with colonial history

The Vatican announced Saturday that it has returned 62 cultural artifacts to Indigenous communities in Canada, as part of the Catholic Church’s ongoing efforts to acknowledge its role in colonial policies that suppressed Indigenous cultures.

Pope Leo XIV handed over the artifacts — including a historic Inuit kayak — along with documents to representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. A joint statement described the gesture as a “tangible sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity.”

The objects were held in the Vatican Museums’ Anima Mundi ethnographic collection, long criticized in broader debates about returning cultural property acquired during colonial times. Many of the items were originally sent by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 Vatican exhibition.

Although the Vatican maintains the pieces were “gifts” to Pope Pius XI, historians and Indigenous groups argue that such gifts cannot be separated from the power imbalances and coercive context of the era — a time when Catholic institutions helped enforce Canada’s forced assimilation policies, later called “cultural genocide” by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Confiscated spiritual and ceremonial items — including those seized under the 1885 potlatch ban — eventually ended up in museums and private collections across several continents.

Return discussions gained momentum after 2022 apology

Restitution talks accelerated after Pope Francis met Indigenous leaders in 2022 and apologized for abuses in residential schools. During that visit, Indigenous delegates were shown items from the Vatican collection and formally requested their return.

Francis later supported returning artifacts “whenever possible,” and the Vatican says Saturday’s transfer coincides with the Holy Year, exactly 100 years after the items were first exhibited in Rome.

Canadian bishops have pledged to safeguard the artifacts initially, while acknowledging that the rightful ultimate stewards will be the Indigenous communities. The artifacts will first be sent to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau for provenance research and consultation.

Part of the Vatican’s broader reckoning

In 2023, the Vatican officially renounced the Doctrine of Discovery, the 15th-century papal declarations that justified European territorial claims over Indigenous lands. Although the repudiation did not formally rescind those papal bulls — a long-standing demand from Indigenous groups — it marked a historic acknowledgment of complicity in colonial injustice.

The Vatican said the restitution of the artifacts represents the “completion of a journey” started by Pope Francis with that landmark repudiation.