Pope Francis publicly apologized on Monday for the Catholic Church's role in the "evil" that generations of Indigenous children suffered at Canadian residential schools.

Driving the news: "I have come to your native lands, to tell you in person of my sorrow, to implore God's forgiveness, healing and reconciliation, to express my closeness and to pray with you and for you," Francis said Monday.

• "I am deeply sorry, sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples," Francis said.
• "I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.”

Francis arrived in the country on Sunday. "This is a trip of penance. Let's say that is its spirit," he told reporters.