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Pope Francis says sorry - 15th August 2022

Pope Francis is the leader of the Roman Catholic church. In July, he went to Canada. He wanted to say sorry.

Until 1996, there were lots of Catholic schools in Canada. Children had to leave their own families to live there. These families were ‘indigenous’ peoples. They were in North America before the Europeans.

The children came from different groups of indigenous peoples. But they had a terrible time at school. The teachers weren’t kind.

The children couldn’t speak their own languages. They didn’t have enough food. They often became sick. Hundreds of indigenous children died.

The government started these schools. They wanted to change indigenous children. And the Catholic church helped. They wanted to stop the people's way of life.

Pope Francis is very sorry. He says the schools make him sad. His trip shows this to indigenous peoples. He wants to help.