Although the following was addressed at Synod 2010, its content is very relevant today as the Vatican considers a request from a delegation of Canadian Indigenous Peoples for the Roman Catholic Church to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery (see 2nd article).
The request was delivered in a meeting with Pope Francis on May 4, 2016, and then a longer meeting later the same day with Cardinal Silvano Tomasi (Chair) and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The delegation included Kahnawake Mohawk Kenneth Deer, a representative of the Haudenosaunee External Relations Committee, which represents the Iroquois Confederacy Council on international matters. The Canadian high courts and those of the U.S. continue to use the papal bulls to dispossess and disempower Indigenous people. Cardinal Tomasi said the Vatican would have to abolish the papal bulls and maybe give an apology from the pope as well.
National Aboriginal Day is on Tues. June 21st - however, we are asked to hold all aboriginal people in our prayers each day!