Canada's indigenous leaders revisit issue of "stolen" artifacts by Vatican

Inside Vatican City, the residence of newly appointed Pope Leo, lies a vast and controversial collection of Indigenous artifacts—items some believe should be returned to their rightful communities. Among them are a rare Inuvialuit sealskin kayak from the western Arctic, a pair of embroidered Cree leather gloves, a 200-year-old wampum belt, a Gwich’in baby belt, and a necklace made from beluga teeth.

Critics view these objects as remnants of a painful past, taken during a time of colonial expansion and cultural erasure, when, according to an article by CNN, the Roman Catholic Church collected such items as missionary “trophies” from Indigenous communities around the world.

Years ago, Pope Francis pledged to return the items to Indigenous communities in Canada as part of what he described as a “penitential pilgrimage” to atone for the Church’s abuses against Indigenous peoples. But as the article points out, the artifacts remain in the Vatican’s museums and vaults.

Now, Indigenous leaders are urging Pope Leo to fulfil that unkept promise. “When things were taken that weren’t somebody else’s to take, it’s time to return them,” said Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Momentum for repatriation grew in 2022 when First Nations, Inuit, and Métis delegates traveled to Rome for talks with Pope Francis regarding the Church’s involvement in Canada’s residential school system. These schools, largely run by the Catholic Church under government mandate, were aimed at assimilating Indigenous children by forcibly removing them from their cultures and, according to the law at the time as cited in the article, “kill the Indian in the child.”

During their visit, the delegates toured the Vatican’s artifact collection and were shocked by what they saw: sacred and culturally significant items thousands of miles away from the communities they belonged to. “It was quite an emotional experience to see all of these artifacts – whether they be Métis, First Nations or Inuit artifacts – so far away,” said Victoria Pruden, President of the Métis National Council.

Following that emotional visit and Pope Francis’s later apology during his trip to Canada, the pontiff promised to return the artifacts. Yet, no items have made their way back. Pope Leo, who celebrated his first Mass on May 18, has yet to address the issue publicly.

Missionary past

The origins of the Vatican’s Indigenous collection trace back to the papacy of Pope Pius XI, who led the Church starting in 1922. Pius was an ardent promoter of missionary work and, in 1923, he issued a directive to Catholic orders worldwide to send artifacts that reflected Indigenous cultures and the Church’s influence. “He said: Send in everything related to Indigenous life. Send in sacred belongings. Send in language materials. Send in Indigenous people, if you can manage it,” said Gloria Bell, assistant professor of art history at McGill University.

“There were thousands of belongings stolen from Indigenous communities to please the greed of Pope Pius XI,” Bell added. She has extensively studied the exhibit and wrote about it in her book Eternal Sovereigns: Indigenous Artists, Activists, and Travelers Reframing Rome.

The Vatican maintains the position that the artifacts were gifted but Bell refutes that: “That’s a ‘false narrative’ which doesn’t consider the context in which the objects were acquired.” “This acquisition period was a really assimilative period in Canadian colonial history,” she said.

Despite past promises, the artifacts have never been returned. Many still sit in storage or on display at the Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum within the Vatican. The total number of Indigenous artifacts in the Vatican’s possession remains unclear, though Bell estimates it to be in “the thousands.” Indigenous leaders told CNN they have yet to receive a full inventory of what sacred objects are held.

By Nazrin Sadigova