In Ireland, it has now become accepted as fact that nuns seized unmarried mothers from their loving families and partners and shoved them into Magdalene Laundries before then flinging their babies into septic tanks.
While the cold reality of such institutions cannot be minimised, the deranged untruths have no reason to be believed. Firstly, the official report into such homes (which were founded by British Protestants, not Irish Catholics) found that the families and men were primarily to blame. Secondly, no babies were flung into septic tanks. Yet the story has taken hold, with political leaders such as Leo Varadkar now repeating it as if it were fact.
Last year, a similar conspiracy theory in Canada was spread, which claimed that the church had ‘murdered’ children and then ‘dumped’ them into a landfill.
In reality, the church had buried the children in graves on the site of the school, because, in line with infant mortality of the time, they had died from impoverishment and the Canadian State had refused to pay to have their bodies returned to their families.
The last Residential School did not close until 1996, which is why the Canadian government are so eager to pass blame onto the government.
Even until the 1980s, secular Canadian journalists were taking part in what was called the ‘Sixties Scoop’, where they encouraged secular homes to adopt Native children who were taken from their homes. This is a significant part of the motivation behind journalists who wish to scapegoat the church of the 19th Century for something that they themselves were doing up until 30 years ago.
Of all of the skewed reporting of the pope’s visit to Canada, the Washington Examiner has published an article that is easily the most deranged.
The headline reads:
Pope Francis calls mass killing of indigenous Canadian schoolchildren 'genocide'
Firstly, Pope Francis referred to ‘cultural genocide’ during his speech in Canada. He then was asked about whether it was ‘cultural genocide’ or ‘genocide’, to which he replied:
It's true, I didn't use the word because it didn't come to my mind, but I described the genocide and asked for forgiveness, pardon for this activity that is genocidal. For example, I condemned this too: taking away children, changing culture, changing mentality, changing traditions, changing a race, let's put it that way, an entire culture. Yes, genocide is a technical word. I didn't use it because it didn't come to my mind, but I described it… It's true, yes, yes, it's genocide. You can all stay calm about this. You can report that I said that it was genocide.
The Washington Examiner writes:
The pope was asked whether he felt the mass deaths at the residential schools that spanned decades constituted a genocide
This was not the question that he was asked. The question that he was asked was:
You often say that it is necessary to speak clearly, honestly, and with parrhesia [boldly] . You know that the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission described the residential school system as 'cultural genocide,' and then it was modified as genocide. The people who heard your words of apology this past week expressed their disappointment because the word genocide was not used. Would you use that term to say that members of the Church participated in genocide?
The Washington Examiner also then refers to ‘killings’.
The deaths at residential schools, while tragic, were not ‘killings’.
The article casually then links these to the ‘unmarked graves’ from last year.
The issue came under international attention after 200 possible unmarked graves were discovered by the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation last year. Other graves have been discovered since.
That incident sparked over 100 terrorist attacks against Catholic churches in Canada, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying that he ‘understood’ the terrorism. Trudeau’s father was in power when Residential Schools were still in operation, which is perhaps part of his motivation to shift blame to the church.
Regardless of what people think, Pope Francis travelling to make amends to people face to face is a noble thing to do. But, someone, somewhere in the Vatican must realise that this trip like his Irish one has been overshadowed by hysteria and an unwillingness of the church to set the record straight.
Setting the record straight does not mean minimising the sufferings of the First Nations, many of whom are Catholic, but in having a sense of fairness. Cardinal Dominik Duka has rightfully pointed out that the British Empire somehow manages to escape the blame that the church endures in Canada and Ireland.
Cardinal 'British Empire was the Main Culprit' — Catholic Arena
The Church Reconciling with First Nations of Canada — Catholic Arena