Pope Francis held a prayer service at the Lac Ste. Anne pilgimage site in Alberta on July 26, 2022
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops announced Saturday that 62 Indigenous artifacts from the Vatican Museums are in the process of being returned as a gift from Pope Leo XIV.
The Canadian Church said the gift was initiated by the late Pope Francis, who wanted to hand the artifacts to the CCCB in support of their ongoing journey with the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.
Pope Leo XIV honoured Pope Francis’s wish, and handed over the sacred and cultural artifacts to reflect mutual respect between the Church and Indigenous Peoples.
The items were sent to the Vatican 100 years ago for the 1925 World Missionary Exposition and had been in the care of the Vatican Museums’ ethnological collection.
The artifacts are expected to land in Montreal on Dec. 6 and be taken first to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa, which will arrange for them to be “reunited with their originating communities.”
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