To the Native Indians and the Inuit (10 September 1984)

On Monday, 10 September 1984, the Holy Father visited the Sanctuary of S. Anne de Beaupré, where he spoke to the Native Indians and the Inuit. He reassured them that, “without losing any of your cultural identity, … the Christian message was intended for you by God, just as it was for others.”

Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

1. I thank you with all my heart for coming from all your regions, even the most distant, to give me the opportunity to meet you as I will meet your brothers and sisters in Huronia and Fort Simpson. You represent the first inhabitants of this immense region of North America. For centuries, you have left your mark, your traditions, your civilization. Other waves of people came from Europe, with their own culture and the Christian faith. They took their place beside you; this vast continent allowed for a cohabitation that had its difficult times but which also proved fruitful. God gave the earth to all men. Today you have your place clearly marked in this country.

Without losing any of your cultural identity, you understood that the Christian message was intended for you by God, just as it was for others. Today, I come to greet you, the Aboriginal people who bring us closer to the origins of settlement in Canada, and I come to celebrate with you our faith in Jesus Christ. I remember that beautiful day of the beatification of Kateri Tekakwitha, in Rome, where many of you were present. I do not forget the warm and pressing invitations that you addressed to me. But I could not go and visit each of your villages and territories: those of the different nations of Amerindians, scattered in many regions of Canada, and those of the Inuit, whose familiar horizon is that of snow and ice bordering the North Pole. That is why I wanted to meet you here, in Sainte-Anne de Beaupré, on this very land where you pitch your tents each year. You come here as pilgrims, to pray to Saint Anne, whom you call, in such an endearing way, your grandmother. Your ancestors have often come to pray here since the Hurons made their first pilgrimage here in 1671 and the Micmacs in 1680. They thus entered into this great popular movement that would make this place one of the most frequented sanctuaries in North America.

2. On behalf of all the pilgrims, in union with the bishops of this country, I want to say a big thank you to the Redemptorists and their collaborators. Thanks to them, this sanctuary is still very much alive. Attentive to popular devotion, they have been able to make room for gestures that freely and forcefully express faith, prayer and the need for reconciliation. Thanks to them, Saint Anne, the mother of Mary, is still invoked in many Canadian families.

But we must also give thanks for all those who, out of love for you, came to propose to your ancestors and to you to become brothers in Jesus Christ, to make you benefit from the Gift that they themselves had received. I think of the Jesuits, like Fathers Vimont and Vieuxpont who, from Fort Sainte-Anne in Cape Breton, brought the Gospel to the Micmacs, and helped them to give their faith to Jesus the Savior, by venerating his mother Mary and the mother of Mary Saint Anne.

I think of many other men and women religious of great merit, from the time of the founders to the present day. I would like to mention in particular the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. They took charge of this vast region of the Great Canadian North. They devoted their lives to evangelizing and supporting many groups of Amerindians, sharing their lives, becoming pastors and bishops of those who became believers. And likewise, they were the first Catholic missionaries to go to meet the Inuit and to remain among them to bear witness to Jesus Christ and to found the Church there; the intercession of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, patron saint of the missions, helped to make their laborious apostolate fruitful.

But it must also be said that the various Amerindian populations, from the middle of the 17th century, then in their time the Inuit, showed themselves to be welcoming to the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Today, these Christians, fully part of the Church, even if they are not fully part of society, know how to participate actively - and often as a couple - in the catechism of their brothers and their children, in leading their prayer; they are faithful to the celebration of the Eucharist; they often take their responsibilities in pastoral councils. Yes, I regret not being able to go there to encourage these valiant missionaries and these valiant Christians who carry within them the blood and culture of the first inhabitants of this country.

3. Over the centuries, dear Amerindians and Inuit, you have gradually discovered in your cultures ways of living your relationship with God and with the world by wanting to be faithful to Jesus and the Gospel. Continue to cultivate these moral and spiritual values: a keen sense of God's presence, love for your family, respect for the elderly, solidarity with your people, sharing, hospitality, respect for nature, the importance given to silence and prayer, faith in Providence. Treasure this wisdom. To let it become impoverished would also impoverish the people around you. Living these spiritual values ​​in a new way requires maturity, interiority, a deepening of the Christian message, concern for the dignity of the human person, pride in being Amerindian and Inuit. This requires the courage to eliminate any form of enslavement capable of compromising your future.

Your encounter with the Gospel has not only enriched you, but it has enriched the Church. We know well that this has not been without difficulty, and sometimes even without clumsiness. However, as you experience today, the Gospel does not destroy what is best in you. On the contrary, it fertilizes, as it were, from within the spiritual qualities and gifts that are specific to your cultures ( Gaudium et Spes , 58). On the other hand, your Amerindian and Inuit traditions allow new expressions of the message of Salvation and help us to better understand to what extent Jesus is Savior and his salvation Catholic, that is, universal.

4. This recognition of what you have accomplished should not make us forget the great challenges facing your peoples in the current North American context. Like all other citizens, but with greater acuity, you fear the repercussions of economic, social and cultural transformations on your traditional ways of life. You worry about the future of your Indian identity, your Inuit identity, and the fate of your children and grandchildren. However, you do not reject the progress of science and technology. You perceive the challenges they pose, and you already know how to take advantage of them.

With good reason, however, you want to control your future, preserve your cultural characteristics, set up a school system that respects your own languages.

The Synod of Bishops on “Justice in the World” (1971) proclaimed that, in mutual collaboration, each people should be the principal architect of its economic and social progress, and also that each people should take part in the realization of the universal common good as an active and responsible member of human society (Synodi Episcoporum 1971, Propositio n. 8). It is in this perspective that you must be the architects of your future, in complete freedom and responsibility. May the wisdom of the elders be combined with the spirit of initiative and courage of the younger ones in order to take up this challenge!

This tenacity in safeguarding your personality is compatible with a spirit of dialogue and benevolent welcome between all those who today, after having come in successive waves, are called upon to form the very diverse population of this territory as vast as a continent and to bring a form of development to it.

5. I know that relations between Aboriginal people and white people are still often tense and full of prejudice. Furthermore, we must recognize that in many places Aboriginal people are among the poorest and most marginalized in society. They suffer from delays in gaining a proper understanding of their identity and their ability to participate in shaping their future.

Those who govern this country are increasingly keen to respect your cultures and your rights, and to rectify difficult situations. This is already expressed in certain legislative texts, capable of progress, and in a better recognition of your own decision-making places. It is to be hoped that effective collaborations and a dialogue based on good faith and acceptance of others in their differences will develop. The Church does not intervene directly in this civil domain, but you know the concern it has for you and that it tries to inspire in all those who want to live in the Christian spirit.

6. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we know that the Gospel calls us to live as his brothers and sisters. We know that Jesus Christ makes possible reconciliation between people, with all its requirements of conversion, justice and social love. If we truly believe that God created us in his image, we shall be able to accept one another with our differences and despite our limitations and our sins.

In seeking a good understanding between the inhabitants of this country, faced with the difficulties of the modern world, it is necessary for you to have complete confidence in what you can do to help one another and to be renewed. Jesus Christ, in whom we believe, can break the chains of our personal and collective selfishness. He gives us the power of his Spirit so that we can triumph over difficulties and realize justice.

7. Assured of the love God has for you, put yourselves to the task; recall without ceasing that the Church of Jesus Christ is your Church. She is the place where the Sun of the Word enlightens you, where you find the nourishment and strength to continue on your way. She is like those “hiding places” that your ancestors constructed all along the route of their travels, so that no one might be caught without provisions. Allow me to repeat this description of the Church in some of your own languages; this will be a way to come closer to you and to express to you my fraternal affection.

The Church is the “Asadjigan” of God for you.

The Church is God’s “Sheshepetan” for you.

The Church is the “Shishititagan” of God for you.

The Church is God’s “Teshititagan” for you.

The Church is the “Ia-Ien-Taien-Ta-Kwa” of God for you.

The Church is God's “Apatagat” for you.

We must now part. In the language of our Inuit brothers and sisters, I would like to assure you that you are my friends, all of you who are loved by God: “Ilannaarivapsi Tamapsi Naglijauvusi Jisusinut”.

I will carry you in my heart and in my prayers. I will entrust you to Mary and Saint Anne so that you may grow in faith and be, in your own way, witnesses of Jesus Christ in this country. And in the name of Jesus Christ, I bless you with all my heart.

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