In Historic Step, Pope Returns Ancient Artifacts to Canada’s Indigenous Communities

The Vatican has returned 62 cultural artifacts to Indigenous peoples in Canada, marking a major step in the Catholic Church’s efforts to confront its historical role in the suppression of Indigenous cultures.

During a special audience on Saturday, Pope Leo XIV personally handed the items and related documentation to representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. In a joint statement, the Vatican and Canadian church called the move a “concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity.”

The objects come from the Vatican Museums’ Anima Mundi ethnographic collection and were originally sent to Rome in 1925 by Catholic missionaries for a Holy Year exhibition. The Vatican has long maintained that the items were presented as “gifts” to Pope Pius XI, but historians and Indigenous leaders have questioned whether such donations were freely given, citing the unequal power dynamics of missionary activity and the Church’s role in Canada’s policy of forced assimilation—labelled “cultural genocide” by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Many ceremonial objects seized during that era, including potlatch regalia, ended up in museums and private collections across Europe and North America.

Calls for restitution intensified after Pope Francis met Indigenous delegations in 2022 and formally apologised for the Church’s involvement in residential schools. During the visit, leaders were shown Inuit and First Nations items—such as wampum belts, masks, war clubs and a traditional kayak—and later requested their return. Pope Francis subsequently supported case-by-case repatriation.

The Vatican said the timing of the handover coincides with the Holy Year, a century after the artifacts were first displayed in Rome. The Canadian bishops have pledged that Indigenous communities will be the ultimate custodians of the returned objects.