Pope Francis Apologizes for Genocide against Canada's Indigenous

Pope Francis said on Saturday that the actions of the residential Catholic schools moderated by the Roman Catholic Church against Canada's indigenous children were genocide.

The statements of the Pope came at the end of his one-week trip to Canada where he expressed the church's apology for the actions.

Before taking his flight back, a reporter asked him why he didn't use the word genocide during his trip, and if he could accept that members of the church who participated in those actions.

He responded: "It's true that I did not use the word because I didn't think of it. But I described genocide. I apologised, I asked forgiveness for this activity, which was genocide."

"I condemned this, taking children away and trying to change their culture, their minds, change their traditions, a race, an entire culture."

More than 150,000 indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in residential schools where they were beaten to death, abused, and assaulted by the hands of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Pope Francis commented: "Yes, genocide is a technical word but I did not use it because I did not think of it, but I described .... yes, it is a genocide, yes, yes, clearly. You can say that I said it was a genocide," he said.

During his visit, he visited the town of Maskwacis, where two former residential schools were established, and he apologized and uttered the words "evil" and a "disastrous error."

Also, he held several prayer masses in Canada which were attended by more than 50,000 people.