Critics say the Vatican statement that the 15th-century documents "were manipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powers" sidesteps its responsibility in legitimizing exploitation of Indigenous peoples.
Pope Francis briefly wearing a full Indigenous headdress, its rows of soft white feathers fastened in place by a colorful, beaded headband after he apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s “disastrous” residential school system for Indigenous children. Chief Wilton Littlechild, a residential school survivor himself, gave Francis the headdress Monday, placing it on…