Pope Leo returns 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada

"VATICAN CITY The Vatican on Saturday returned 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada, a historic restitution that is part of the Catholic Church's reckoning with its role in helping suppress Indigenous culture in the Americas. Pope Leo XIV gave the artifacts, including an iconic Inuit kayak, and supporting documentation to a delegation of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is expected to return them to individual Indigenous communities."

"The collection has been a source of controversy for the Vatican amid the broader museum debate over the restitution of cultural goods taken from Indigenous peoples during colonial periods. Most of the items in the Vatican collection were sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 exhibition in the Vatican gardens. The Vatican insists the items were "gifts" to Pope Pius XI, who wanted to celebrate the church's global reach, its missionaries and the lives of the Indigenous peoples they evangelized."

The Vatican returned 62 artifacts to Indigenous peoples from Canada, including an iconic Inuit kayak, and provided supporting documentation to a Canadian bishops' delegation slated to return items to individual communities. Church and Canadian bishops described the pieces as a "gift" and a "concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity." The objects belonged to the Anima Mundi ethnographic collection. Most items were sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 Vatican exhibition. Questions persist over whether items were freely offered given mission-era power imbalances, and the role of Catholic orders in enforcing Canadian assimilation policies that led to confiscation of ritual objects.

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