Pope Leo Returns Indigenous Artifacts from the Vatican Museum to Canada

By Brooke Bihl

The Vatican has returned 62 artifacts from its large ethnographic collection to Indigenous peoples of Canada, as a part of the Catholic Church’s reckoning with its role in helping suppress Indigenous cultures in the Americas. Pope Leo XIV formally handed over the artifacts, including an iconic Inuit kayak, masks, moccasins, etchings, and supporting documentation to a delegation of the Canadian Conference of Bishops. The artifacts were a part of the Vatican Museum’s ethnographic collection for over 100 hundred years and are expected to be returned to their original Indigenous communities. Most of the items within the collection were first sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 exhibition in the Vatican gardens. The Vatican says these 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. 

            Negotiations on returning the items accelerated after Pope Francis met with leading representatives of Canada’s Indigenous peoples who had traveled to the Vatican to view the items in 2022. During the visit, the late pope apologized for the church’s role in the abuse and forced assimilation of Indigenous people, referencing the years in which Catholic religious orders aided the Canadian government in eliminating Indigenous traditions. The representatives were also shown objects in the collection including wampum belts, war clubs, and masks, which they asked to be returned. On Saturday, Pope Leo XIV officially fulfilled the promise made by Pope Francis to return these artifacts, marking exactly 100 years after the 1925 exhibit. The artifacts will first go to the Canadian Museum of History in Quebec, before Indigenous experts and elders will try to identify them and determine where they should be kept.