Pope Leo XIV Gifts 62 Indigenous Artefacts to the Canadian Bishops as a Sign of Dialogue and Fraternity
On Saturday morning, 15 November 2025, in the Apostolic Palace, Pope Leo XIV received in audience Bishop Pierre Goudreault, Bishop of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), accompanied by Archbishop Richard Smith, Archbishop of Vancouver, and Fr Jean Vézina, General Secretary of the CCCB.
During the audience, the Holy Father presented to the CCCB sixty-two artefacts belonging to the ethnological collections of the Vatican Museums.
In continuity with the late Pope Francis’ Apostolic Journey to Canada in 2022, his numerous meetings with indigenous communities, and the publication of the Declaration on the Doctrine of Discovery in 2023, Pope Leo XIV intends this gift to serve as a tangible sign of dialogue, respect, and fraternity.
According to the joint communiqué of the Holy See and the CCCB, this gesture is an act of ecclesial sharing, through which the Successor of Peter entrusts to the Church in Canada these artefacts that bear witness to the historical encounter between the Christian faith and the cultures of indigenous peoples.
The sixty-two artefacts, originating from various communities, form part of the patrimony received during the Vatican Missionary Exhibition of 1925, promoted by Pope Pius XI during the Holy Year to showcase the faith and cultural wealth of different peoples.
Sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries between 1923 and 1925, these pieces were later integrated with those of the Lateran Ethnological Missionary Museum, which subsequently became the “Anima Mundi” Ethnological Museum of the Vatican Museums.
The Holy Father’s gift is made within the context of the Jubilee of 2025, a celebration of hope, and the centenary of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition.
The artefacts, together with documentation held by the Vatican Museums attesting to their provenance and the circumstances of their transport to Rome for the 1925 Exhibition, have now been entrusted to the CCCB.
The Canadian Bishops stated that, in a spirit of genuine collaboration and dialogue with the Directorate of Cultural Heritage of Vatican City State, they are committed to ensuring that these artefacts are appropriately safeguarded, respected, and preserved.
