• The pope made the comment while flying back to Rome after a week-long trip to Canada.
• He was asked why he did not use the word genocide during the trip.
• Between 1881 and 1996 more than 150,000 indigenous children were taken from their families.

On Saturday, Pope Francis referred to what took place at the residential schools that the Roman Catholic Church; and other Christian Churches used to forcibly integrate indigenous children in Canada as genocide.

After a week-long visit to Canada, where he issued a historic apology for the Church’s part in the policy; the pope made the remark on a flight back to Rome.

On the flight, a native Canadian reporter questioned him about why he avoided using the word “genocide”; and whether he would agree that Church members had committed genocide.

“True, I didn’t think of the word and hence didn’t use it. But I did mention genocide. I expressed regret and begged pardon for this act of extermination “Francis stated.

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The pope said, “I opposed this, taking children away and attempting to alter their beliefs; customs, traditions, a race, an entire culture.

More than 150,000 native children were taken away from their families and sent to residential schools between 1881 and 1996. In a system that Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission referred; to as “cultural genocide,” several children were malnourished, physically assaulted, and sexually molested.

Religious organisations, the majority of which were Catholic priests and nuns; ran the schools on behalf of the governments.

“Yes, genocide is a technical term, but I didn’t use it because I hadn’t thought of it. Instead, I detailed what happened, and it is plainly a genocide. You may assert that I stated it to be a genocide, “said he.

In his Monday visit to Maskwacis, where two former residential schools once stood; Francis expressed regret and referred to forced assimilation; as “evil” and a “disastrous mistake.”

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