Pope Leo XIV Gifts 62 Indigenous Artefacts to Canadian Bishops

Vatican City, November 16, 2025: Pope Leo XIV has presented 62 indigenous artefacts from the Vatican Museums to representatives of the Canadian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CCCB), affirming his commitment to dialogue, respect, and renewed relations with Canada’s Indigenous communities. The bishops pledged to safeguard and preserve the collection.

On Saturday morning, 15 November 2025, in the Apostolic Palace, the Pope received Bishop Pierre Goudreault, President of the CCCB and Bishop of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, together with Archbishop Richard Smith of Vancouver and Fr Jean Vézina, the CCCB’s General Secretary.

During the audience, Pope Leo formally handed over sixty-two items from the Vatican Museums’ ethnological collections. The gesture follows the late Pope Francis’ 2022 Apostolic Journey to Canada, his meetings with Indigenous peoples, and the 2023 Declaration on the Doctrine of Discovery. Pope Leo stated that the transfer symbolises a concrete step towards fraternity, mutual respect, and sincere dialogue.

A joint statement from the Holy See and the CCCB described the handover as an act of ecclesial sharing. As Successor of Peter, the Pope entrusts these artefacts to the Church in Canada, recognising their value as a powerful witness to the long-standing encounter between Christian faith and the cultures of Indigenous peoples.

The artefacts come from different Indigenous communities and were originally prepared for the Vatican Missionary Exhibition of 1925, an event encouraged by Pope Pius XI during a Holy Year to showcase the cultural and spiritual richness of peoples around the world. Catholic missionaries sent the items to Rome between 1923 and 1925. They were later combined with collections from the Lateran Ethnologic Missionary Museum, forming what is now the “Anima Mundi” Ethnological Museum in the Vatican Museums.

This gift also aligns with the Jubilee of 2025, which celebrates hope, and with the 100th anniversary of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition.

Each artefact is accompanied by Vatican Museum documentation confirming its origins and detailing its transport to Rome for the 1925 Exhibition. These records were transferred along with the objects to the CCCB.

The Canadian bishops said they remain committed to working collaboratively with the Directorate of Cultural Heritage of Vatican City State. They emphasised that, in the spirit of genuine cooperation and dialogue, they will ensure the responsible care, preservation, and proper safeguarding of the artefacts.

Pope Leo XIV Gifts 62 Indigenous Artefacts to Canadian Bishops

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