For Indigenous communities around the world, "land, water and food are not mere commodities, but the very basis of life and of these peoples' bond with nature," Pope Francis said.
Officials of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia, and a First Nation where the largest Indigenous residential school in Canada was located reiterated their joint commitment June 26 to press forward with learning more about the mistreatment of thousands of Indigenous children by a government education program administered by some Catholic religious orders at such schools that ran for nearly 100 years.
The world's cultures, traditions, spiritualities and languages must be acknowledged, respected and protected, especially those of Indigenous peoples, Pope Francis said.
Last year was marked by the dramatic increase of violence and rights violations against Indigenous peoples in Brazil, said the Brazilian bishops' Indigenous Missionary Council.
Bishop Douglas J. Lucia, whose downtown Syracuse office sits on the ancestral lands of the Onondaga Nation, hopes to meet with Pope Francis "to re-examine" 15th-century Vatican documents that justified colonization, land takeovers and oppression of Indigenous peoples.
Three U.S. bishops said in a joint statement May 13 they are "heartbroken" that Native Americans and other indigenous people in the United States "continue to greatly suffer from the COVID-19 epidemic" and at "disproportionately high rates" compared to other U.S. communities.
Existing formation programs are not preparing priests and other pastoral workers to be leaders in a church with an Amazonian and indigenous face, according to bishops participating in the synod for the Amazon.
By demanding respect for the cultures of indigenous peoples, Pope Francis was not promoting pantheism, but -- tapping into his Jesuit roots -- urging respect for a worldview that sees God in all things.
