As occurred during Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland, one important detail of his apology in Canada for problems of the past was forgotten.
That aspect was the role that the British Empire played towards the suffering and impoverishment of natives in both countries.
Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka pointed this out, in a statement published this weekend.
The cardinal writes:
If you further consider the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, then there is a certain impoverishment of society, the spread of large epidemic diseases, the placement of a large number of children in their insufficient sanitary and health condition. It is then clear that these children were exposed not only to emotional stress, but also to a huge immunological strain. If the management of these schools itself demanded financial assistance from the government of the time, which was not received, then the answer was that the children should work in gardens, fields, etc. These are all things I know from socialist Czechoslovakia. These were our brigades about harvest, diabetes, potatoes, hops and they were exactly the same. I wonder if former members of the communist establishment will go and kneel in front of me and kiss my hands. Not me, but generations. We must please be aware of these facts.
John Paul II understood this because he knew what the dictatorship of Communism and Nazism was, so he went to Canada, drew attention to these mistakes and expressed his regret and apology. The current Pope Francis, under the influence of a situation that is tense, emotional and without any historical knowledge (BLM, etc.), and with his team of advisers, considered it appropriate for the Pope to visit these tribes and representatives of these generations and express his apology to them.But we also have to understand the reaction to this, because the main culprit was not Pope Pius IX, but the government of the British Empire, that is, the royal majesty of Queen Victoria and the then government of Canada.
When I see Prime Minister Trudeau smiling, I don't know what he's laughing at, and I'm like, yes, Pope Francis has taken on Black Peter as the successor to the Canadian government. His step is above all a step of great humility and courage. But on the other hand, I think it is a mistake that those who accompany this journey should have adequately explained the whole context. I'm wrong! Because P. F. Lombardi explained them, but neither the Catholic media nor our media ever bother to try to understand and explain the context. We see this situation in its entirety and nakedness, not only in these issues, but also in the contemporary world. In the crisis that we are experiencing today with Russia's aggression in Ukraine, which, of course, has a much broader impact, but also has a much broader political context about which we are almost completely uninformed.
You can read the Cardinal’s full statement here: