Pope Leo returns more than six-dozen Indigenous artifacts to Canada

Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service/USCCB

Monday, November 17, 2025

Pope Leo XIV fulfilled a promise made by the late Pope Francis to return to Canada’s Indigenous communities’ artifacts – including an Inuit kayak, masks, moccasins, and etchings – that have been held by the Vatican for more than 100 years. The pope gave 62 artifacts to the leaders of the Canadian bishops’ conference. Pope Leo’s decision to give the artifacts to the Canadian bishops instead of to the government or to an Indigenous organization “is a tangible sign of his desire to help Canada’s Bishops walk alongside Indigenous Peoples in a spirit of reconciliation during the Jubilee Year of Hope and beyond,” said Bishop Pierre Goudreault, president of the Canadian bishops’ conference.