Bishops Try to Clarify Pope’s Refusal to Apologize for Residential Schools

Bishops Try to Clarify Pope’s Refusal to Apologize for Residential Schools
Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on April 18, 2018. AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
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OTTAWA—The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops says it’s incorrect to suggest that Pope Francis is refusing to apologize to survivors of Canada’s notoriously abusive residential schools.

The conference has sent a background paper to MPs and senators in a bid to clarify what it characterizes as “misunderstandings and factual errors” in media reports about the Pope’s decision not to personally apologize for the role played by the Roman Catholic Church in operating the schools.