Vatican Agrees to Return Indigenous Peoples’ Artifacts
From left, Gerald Antoine, First Nations NWT Regional Chief, Natan Obed, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami delegation, and Cassidy Caron, President of the Metis community, walk in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, after their meeting with Pope Francis on, April 1, 2022, about restitution of Indigenous... (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
The Vatican has returned 62 Indigenous artifacts to Canada, ending more than a century in which many of the items were held in its museum collections. Among the objects sent back were an Inuit kayak, wampum belts, war clubs, and ceremonial masks. The Vatican transferred the items to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which will work with National Indigenous Organizations to ensure they are ultimately returned to the communities they originated from, according to Deutsche Welle.
Many of these artifacts were originally sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries during an era defined by cultural repression and the residential school system—institutions that aimed to assimilate Indigenous children and suppress their traditions. During Pope Francis’ 2022 visit to Canada, Indigenous communities called for the return of culturally significant items, prompting renewed discussions.
In announcing the return, the Vatican framed the gesture as one of “dialogue, respect, and fraternity.” Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand called it a meaningful move toward truth and reconciliation. Still, some Indigenous leaders argue that the process should allow individual communities to directly identify and reclaim their own cultural heritage.
Several items, including the Inuit kayak, had once been displayed in the 1925 Vatican Missionary Exhibition. One wampum belt had been sent to Rome as early as 1831. The Vatican maintains that objects sent for the 1925 exhibition were gifts to Pope Pius XI, according to CTV News. However, historians and Indigenous advocates counter that such “gifts” may not have been freely given, citing the deep power imbalances within Catholic missions of that period. Gloria Bell, an art history scholar at McGill University, said Pope Leo should “acknowledge that these Indigenous ancestors were not gifted and the papal narrative needs correction.”
Most of the objects came from the Vatican Museums’ ethnographic collection, now known as the Anima Mundi museum—a collection that has long been at the center of international debates over the return of cultural property taken during colonial eras, the AP reports.
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