Image copyright ETTORE FERRARI/ AFP

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked Pope Francis to apologise for the role of the Catholic Church in a Canadian school system where indigenous children were abused for decades.

The PM met the pontiff at the Vatican on Monday as part of his trip to Italy for the G7 summit.

The residential schools were set up from the 1880s to take children from their families and assimilate them into mainstream Canadian society.

The last one closed in 1996.

"I told him how important it is for Canadians to move forward on real reconciliation with the indigenous peoples and I highlighted how he could help by issuing an apology," Mr Trudeau told reporters after meeting the pope.

He said he had invited the pontiff to make the apology in Canada.

Some 150,000 aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families, and sent to live in church-run boarding schools where they were forbidden to speak their language or practise their own culture.

Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called for a papal apology, as part of the healing process for survivors.

Although the Vatican has not commented on Mr Trudeau's request, it confirmed the talk was "cordial" and lasted about 36 minutes. It said the conversation "focused on the themes of integration and reconciliation, as well as religious freedom and current ethical issues" but did not mention an apology directly.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption 'The nun rubbed my face in my own urine'

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has been tasked with collecting the stories of survivors and recommending a way forward for the country to heal, has called the residential school system "cultural genocide".

In its report, the commission recommended the Catholic Church issue a formal apology for its part in the residential school system.

Similar apologies have been issued by Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches, who along with the Catholic Church helped run these schools as joint ventures with the Canadian government.

In 2008, former prime minister Stephen Harper issued an apology on behalf of Canadians, calling it "a sad chapter in our history".

A year later, Pope Benedict expressed "his sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the Church" to a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations, a national advocacy organization, who went to the Vatican.

In 2015, Mr Harper met Pope Francis and called attention to the commission's findings.

Mr Trudeau said he also spoke with the Pope about a subject dear to both of them: the importance of stopping climate change.

"We talked about how important it is to highlight the scientific basis of protecting our planet and the moral and ethical obligations to lead, to build a better future for all people on this earth," Mr Trudeau said.

During the visit to the Vatican, Mr Trudeau was joined by his wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau. While in Italy, he also visited the Roma football club and will meet Italy's prime minister and president.</s>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Pope Francis has offered to work with him and Canada’s Catholic bishops on a “path forward” to issuing a historic papal apology for the church’s role in the dark legacy of residential schools.

Mr. Trudeau said the pontiff signalled during a 42-minute private audience that a formal apology would be forthcoming to Indigenous survivors for the sexual, mental and physical abuse they suffered at church-run schools.

“I told him about how important it is for Canadians that we move forward on real reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and highlighted how he could help by issuing an apology,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters on Monday.

“He reminded me his entire life has been dedicated to supporting marginalized people in the world and fighting for them and he looked forward to working with me and the Canadian bishops to figure out a path forward together.”

The Prime Minister invited Pope Francis to Canada to issue a formal apology.

The Liberals came to power in 2015 saying they wanted to reset the relationship with Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

Among their promises were an inquiry into why so many aboriginal women are murdered or go missing, and to enact the 94 calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on residential schools. The calls to action included a papal apology to survivors for the church’s role in the tragedy that forced Indigenous children from their homes in an attempt at mass assimilation.

The inquiry, which is hearing its first testimony this week, has been criticized for its slow pace and poor communication. So the new potential for a papal apology gives a much-needed boost to the government as it tries to make headway on its Indigenous goals.

Pope Francis, who has cast himself as the spiritual leader of the world’s oppressed, apologized in 2015 for the crimes committed by the church against Indigenous peoples of Latin America during conquest on the continents.

In a March meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the pontiff asked God’s forgiveness for the failures of the Catholic church during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the violence perpetrated by priests.

The Vatican issued its own statement on the discussions with Mr. Trudeau, but did not mention a possible papal apology or when the Pope might visit Canada.

“In the cordial discussions, the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and Canada were evoked, along with the contribution of the Catholic Church to the social life of the country,” the statement said. “The parties then focused on the themes of integration and reconciliation, as well as religious freedom and current ethical events.”

Most of the residential schools were run by Catholics, which is why an apology from the Pope would be so important to Indigenous communities.

In a 2009 meeting with an Indigenous delegation from Canada that included Phil Fontaine, a residential school survivor and then-grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Pope Benedict expressed “sorrow” and “sympathy” and condemned those who had harmed children. That statement of regret was accepted but it was not a full apology, Mr. Fontaine said.

“If Francis comes to Canada and pronounces this formal apology on Canadian soil, that would be wonderful. The symbolic value of such a statement in our homelands cannot be underestimated,” he said, explaining that it is important that such a statement be made in Canada because “this is where the abuse took place, this is where the experiences occurred on our homeland.”

Perry Bellegarde, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, agreed that it would mean a lot to residential school survivors to hear an apology from the head of the Catholic church, especially if it was offered Canada.

“Coming to Canada to be on our ancestral lands and our treaty territories would be a very huge step on the path to reconciliation,” Mr. Bellegarde said. The National Chief said he would also like to hear the Pope apologize for the “illegal and racist” papal bulls of the 15th century that gave Christian explorers the right to claim any lands they discovered that were not inhabited by Christians.

The Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches, which also ran residential schools, have already apologized to the survivors. The TRC report said the church-run schools attempted to assimilate Indigenous children by removing their culture, identity and language.

Chief Wilton Littlechild, who was one of the TRC commissioners, said he met with the Pope last year and invited him to come to Canada to issue the apology. “So this follow with Prime Minister Trudeau today is really great news,” Mr. Littlechild said.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper mentioned the commission’s finding during a 10-minute audience with Pope Francis in 2015, but did not seek a formal apology.

Mr. Trudeau said he thanked the Pope for his global leadership on the environment during their private discussions in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. Pope Francis wrote an encyclical in 2015 calling for urgent and drastic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions.

“We talked about how important it is to both highlight the scientific basis of protecting our planet with the moral and ethical obligation to lead and to build a better future for all peoples on this earth,” Mr. Trudeau said.

The Pope gave the Prime Minister a copy of the encyclical on the environment as well as ones on family and evangelism and a gold medal marking his four years as pontiff. Mr. Trudeau gave the Pope a Montagnais-French dictionary and a set of books from Canada’s National Jesuit Library.</s>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Pope Francis on Monday and asked him to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system that abused indigenous children for more than a century.

Beginning in the late 19th century, around 150,000 indigenous children were taken from their families and forced to attend the boarding schools, which were set up to assimilate them into Canadian society. Children robbed of their identity, and banned from speaking their native language or taking part in their culture. There were also allegations of physical, sexual and mental abuse by staff.

The last school closed in 1996 and were largely run by the Catholic Church. As many as 6,000 children died while in the schools. Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up inform the Canadian public about the schools, and to study the trauma suffered by those forced to attend them, called on the pope to make an apology in Canada.

Subscribe to Newsweek from $1 per week

“I told him about how important it is for Canadians that we move forward on real reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and highlighted how he could help by issuing an apology,” Trudeau told reporters following the 42-minute long meeting. The Globe and Mail reports that the pope indicated that a formal apology to survivors is in the works. Trudeau invited the pontiff to Canada, where he is expected to make the apology.

Related: Justin Trudeau meets Emmanuel Macron and the rest is bromancew

Formal apologies have also been made by the Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches, which also ran some of the schools. The previous pontiff, Pope Benedict, met with survivor of the system Phil Fontaine in 2009, but did not formally apologize. Instead, he shared his “sorrow” and “sympathy.”

It’s not the first time Pope Francis has said sorry on behalf of the Catholic Church. He previously apologized for the failure of the church to intervene during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The official Vatican statement on the meeting between Trudeau and the pope did not include information on the apology. The two men “focused on the themes of integration and reconciliation, as well as religious freedom and current ethical events,” the statement said.

Trudeau met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday, during a trip to Italy for the G7 summit. Trudeau’s meeting came the week after U.S. President Donald Trump met with the pope.</s>Pope Francis has offered to work with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s bishops on a “path forward” to issuing a historic papal apology for the role the Catholic Church played in the dark legacy of residential schools.

The pontiff signalled to Mr. Trudeau during a 42-minute private audience that a formal apology would be forthcoming to Indigenous survivors for the sexual, mental and physical abuse they suffered at church-run schools.

“I told him about how important it is for Canadians that we move forward on real reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and highlighted how he could help by issuing an apology,” Mr. Trudeau later told reporters.

“He reminded me his entire life has been dedicated to supporting marginalized people in the world and fighting for them and he looked forward to working with me and the Canadian bishops to figure out a path forward together.”

The Prime Minister invited Pope Francis to Canada, where he is expected to issue a formal apology. He did not say when the Pope would be coming to Canada.

The Pope, who has cast himself as the spiritual leader of the world’s oppressed, apologized in 2015 for the crimes committed by the church against Indigenous peoples of Latin America during conquest on the continents.

In a March meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the pontiff asked God’s forgiveness for the failures of the Catholic Church during the 1994 Rwanda genocide and the violence perpetrated by priests.

The Vatican issued its own statement on the discussions with Mr. Trudeau but did not mention a possible papal apology or when the Pope would visit Canada.

“In the cordial discussions, the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and Canada were evoked, along with the contribution of the Catholic Church to the social life of the country,” the statement said. “The parties then focused on the themes of integration and reconciliation, as well as religious freedom and current ethical events.”

The vast majority of residential schools were run by Catholics, which would make the Pope’s potential apology so important to Indigenous communities. In a 2009 meeting with Phil Fontaine, a residential school survivor and then-grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Pope Benedict expressed “sorry” and “sympathy” but did not formally apologize.

The Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches, which also ran residential schools, have already apologized to the survivors. For almost a century, the federal government forcibly removed about 150,000 Indigenous children from their families and sent them to church-run schools, where many were abused.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued a report in 2015, calling for a papal apology to residential school survivors, saying the church-run schools attempted to assimilate Indigenous children by removing their culture, identity and language.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper mentioned the commission’s finding during a 10-minute audience with Pope Francis in 2015 but did not seek a formal apology.

During their private discussions in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, Mr. Trudeau said he thanked the Pope for his global leadership on the environment.

Pope Francis wrote an encyclical in 2015, calling for urgent and drastic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions. He gave a copy of that encyclical to U.S. President Donald Trump during a half-hour meeting at the Vatican last week.

“I just had an extraordinary conversation with the Pope,” Mr. Trudeau said. “We talked about important it is to both highlight the scientific basis of protecting our planet with the moral and ethical obligation to lead and to build a better future for all peoples on this earth.”

The Pope also gave the Prime Minister a copy of the encyclical on the environment as well as ones on family and evangelism and a gold medal marking his four years as pontiff. Mr. Trudeau gave the Pope a Montagnais French dictionary and a set of books from Canada’s National Jesuit Library.

Mr. Trudeau, who later introduced the Pope to his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, said he also had a “deeply personal and wide-ranging and thoughtful conversation with the leader of my own faith.”

Mr. Trudeau later met separately with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, where they discussed migration, climate change and promoting human rights.</s>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is hopeful Pope Francis will heed a personal call to make a formal apology to aboriginal survivors of sexual and physical abuse at Catholic-run residential schools during a private audience with his holiness at the Vatican on Monday.

Mr. Trudeau will use the one-on-one meeting in the Apostolic Palace to request a papal apology and an “open invitation” for the Pontiff to visit Canada to address victims of the residential school system.

“The Prime Minister is using this opportunity to talk to the Pope about indigenous issues and reconciliation and one of the things aboriginal communities want is an apology,” a government official said.

Canadian and Vatican officials have been working behind the scenes to arrange the meeting, which officials say is an opportunity for Pope Francis to make amends for a dark chapter in the Catholic Church’s attempt to “Christianize” Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Metis people.

In 2015, former prime minister Stephen Harper met for 10 minutes with Pope Frances at the Vatican and drew his attention to the troubling findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but he stopped short of inviting him to Canada to apologize.

Instead, Mr. Harper referred to a letter sent by his aboriginal affairs minister that simply notified the Vatican that the commission had spoken to thousands of residential students and documented their experiences.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued 94 recommendations, which Mr. Trudeau promised to implement as Liberal leader. A key recommendation was a call for a papal apology to residential school survivors, saying the church-run system sought to remove indigenous culture, identity and language in what it deplored as “cultural genocide.”

The federal government forcibly removed 150,000 aboriginal children from their families over the course of a century, putting them in church-run schools with the goal of assimilation.

In 2009, Pope Benedict offered a personal apology to Phil Fontaine, a residential school survivor and Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. That apology was not accepted by the commission because it was not offered to all victims of residential schools.

The Trudeau government is optimistic Pope Francis will agree a formal apology on his next visit to Canada given that the pontiff has apologized in 2015 for crimes committed by the church against indigenous peoples in Latin America. The Catholic Church also apologized for victims of sex abuse by priests in Ireland.

The Prime Minister , who is a practicing Catholic, also intends to discuss climate change with the Pope as well as the need to promote diversity and respect among the world’s religions, an official said.

The Pope is a strong supporter of the Paris climate accord, an issue he raised last week during a meeting at the Vatican with U.S. President Donald Trump. He presented Mr. Trump with a copy of his encyclical on preserving the environment and urged him not to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris emissions treaty.

Mr. Trudeau and other G7 leaders made the same plea to the President at their annual summit in Taormina, Sicily, but were unable to get him sign a final communique on Saturday to stay in the Paris accord. Mr. Trump later tweeted that he would make a decision this week on whether the U.S. will exit the 195-nation treaty, signed by former president Barack Obama.

This is not the first time Mr. Trudeau has met the leader of the Catholic Church. When he was age nine, he accompanied his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, to the Vatican in 1980 to meet Pope John Paul. Four years later, he saw the Pope again when he visited Montreal.

The Prime Minister is bringing his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, to meet the Pope. The couple, which celebrated their twelfth wedding anniversary on Sunday with a dinner in Rome, will then visit Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Trudeau and his wife flew by Italian government helicopter from Rome to Amatrice, a small town in the hills of central Italy that was devastated by a massive earthquake in August, 2016. Three hundred people died – many of them children - and dozens were injured.

He offered to match dollar for dollar up to $2 million for the Italian Earthquake Fund to help in the rebuilding – money that Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said would go to construct a new town hall in the community of 2,000.

“Being here is an opportunity to share the depths and closeness of the friendship between Canada and Italy,” Mr. Trudeau said after touring the red zone in the centre of the flattened town. “It’s an opportunity to share our thoughts, our condolences, our sympathies.”

Rebuilding efforts have been bogged with layers of Italian bureaucracy. About 900 people remained in the town, many of them farmers who are living in make shift homes.

“I am very pissed,” Mayor Pirozzi said. “I want to get homes built, but it is very slow.”

The 6.2-magnitude quake struck in the early morning when most people were sleeping. Roads buckled, homes were flattened and residents were buried under the rubble. Amatrice was one of the hardest-hit towns.

“It is still very painful because my uncle died in the earthquake and my daughter was here,” Laura Rocchi said. “For us, it was a tragic and terrible moment.”</s>VATICAN CITY — Canadians are anxious to reconcile with Indigenous Peoples, Justin Trudeau described telling Pope Francis on Monday as he asked the pontiff to apologize for the role the Catholic Church played in the tragedy of residential schools.

The Pope — himself no stranger to the cause of social justice, he noted to Trudeau — seemed open to the idea, the prime minister said as he related the broad strokes of their private conversation at the Vatican.

“He reminded me that his entire life has been dedicated to supporting marginalized people in the world,” Trudeau said after he arrived back in Rome.

Pope Francis also expressed his enthusiasm for working with the prime minister and the Canadian bishops on finding a way forward on the issue of an apology, as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The commission included the demand for a papal apology — to survivors, their families and communities — as one of the 94 recommendations in its report on the dark 120-year history and tragic legacy of residential schools.

Trudeau, who has promised to act on each recommendation, had previously committed to speaking to the Pope about an apology, but pointed out he could not compel the pontiff to agree.

On Monday, Trudeau said he invited the Pope to visit Canada in the coming years, and thanked him for the global leadership he has shown on climate change.

“We talked about how important it is to both highlight the scientific basis of protecting our planet, with the moral and ethical obligation to lead and to build a better future for all people on this earth,” he said.

Trudeau, a religious Catholic, suggested the meeting gave him some spiritual fulfillment.

“I also had an opportunity to have a deeply personal and wide-ranging, thoughtful conversation with the leader of my own faith.”

Just before 12:30 p.m., the media was ushered in to the Pope’s private quarters, then quickly hustled out. At 1:04 p.m., a bell rang, signalling the end of Trudeau’s private audience. The Prime Minister’s Office called it a 42-minute meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who like Trudeau had been in Brussels for the NATO leaders’ meeting and in Sicily for the G7 summit, met the Pope for about 30 minutes last week.

Afterward, Trudeau introduced his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, to the Pope along with officials from the PMO.

The prime minister presented the Pope with a dictionary in French and Montagnais — spoken by the Innu people in Labrador and northern Quebec — written by a French Jesuit in the 17th century.

Pope Francis, through an interpreter, said it was the custom of Jesuits to produce such dictionaries when they travelled, to enable them to communicate with local communities.

The prime minister also gave the Pope a set of books known as the Jesuit Relations, which Trudeau called “an essential tool for historians to understand the early years and stories of Jesuit missionaries documenting the origins of Canada.”

“This is a rare edition that we got from the Jesuits in Canada,” he said.

In return, the Pope gave the prime minister a gold medal marking the fourth year of his pontificate, an autographed copy of his message for World Peace Day and three papal letters about family, the environment and evangelism.

A readout from the PMO described “an extended conversation” on the need for leadership on issues like climate change and mass migration, and a discussion about stronger relations between Canada and the Holy See.

A statement from the Vatican said that in light of what came out of the G7 summit, their “cordial” discussions also touched on international issues, particularly the Middle East and areas of conflict.

In 2009, former pope Benedict did express “sorrow” on behalf of the Catholic Church for the “deplorable conduct” by some members in their treatment of indigenous children in residential schools.

Not good enough, said the commission, especially since it was not made in public, recommending an apology similar to one Benedict delivered in Ireland in 2010 to victims of abuse by the church.

Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said he remains hopeful the Pope will come through with a formal apology.

“Pope Francis has a lot of influence on world thinking and is a very, very popular pope,” Bellegarde said. “He’s a very influential individual and to have him come would be a ... huge undertaking on that road to reconciliation.”

NDP indigenous affairs critic Romeo Saganash, a residential school survivor, dismissed the issue as a “public relations stunt” that would do nothing to help indigenous communities wracked by housing, clean water and suicide crises.

On Tuesday, Trudeau will continue his official visit to Italy, where he will meet Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and deliver an address to parliamentarians.

Trudeau is promoting cultural and economic ties between the two countries, including the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union.

A spokesperson said Trudeau had a private drink with former prime minister Matteo Renzi on Monday evening. In April, Renzi regained the leadership of the Democratic Party.</s>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Pope Francis on Monday and asked him to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system that abused indigenous children for more than a century. Beginning in the late 19th century, around 150,000 indigenous children were taken from their families and forced to attend the boarding…</s>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a request for Pope Francis: say sorry for the role of the Catholic Church in a Canadian school system where indigenous children were abused.

The PM met the pontiff at the Vatican on Monday as part of his trip to Italy for the G7 summit.

The residential schools were set up from the 1880s to take children from their families and assimilate them into mainstream Canadian society.

The last one closed in 1996.

Some 150,000 aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families, and sent to live in church-run boarding schools where they were forbidden to speak their language or practise their own culture.

Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called for a papal apology, as part of the healing process for survivors.

Although details of Mr Trudeau's private audience have not been made public, the Vatican confirmed the talk was "cordial" and lasted about 36 minutes.

The Vatican said the conversation "focused on the themes of integration and reconciliation, as well as religious freedom and current ethical issues" but did not mention an apology directly.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has been tasked with collecting the stories of survivors and recommending a way forward for the country to heal, has called the residential school system "cultural genocide".

In its report, the commission recommended the Catholic Church issue a formal apology for its part in the residential school system.

Similar apologies have been issued by Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches, who along with the Catholic Church helped run these schools as joint ventures with the Canadian government.

In 2008, former prime minister Stephen Harper issued an apology on behalf of Canadians, calling it "a sad chapter in our history".

A year later, Pope Benedict expressed "his sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the Church" to a delegation from the Assembly of First Nations, a national advocacy organization, who went to the Vatican.

In 2015, Mr Harper met Pope Francis and called attention to the commission's findings.

During the visit to the Vatican, Mr Trudeau was joined by his wife Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau. While in Italy, he also visited the Roma Soccer Club Stadium and will meet Italy's prime minister and president.</s>ROME, ITALY, Italy – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to raise reconciliation with indigenous peoples, the global fight against climate change and the importance of religious and cultural diversity when he meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday.

There, he will also ask the pontiff to issue a formal apology in Canada for the role of the Catholic Church in the residential school system.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission included the demand for a papal apology — to survivors, their families and communities — among the 94 recommendations in its report on the dark history and legacy of residential schools.

The Liberal government has promised to act on all of them.

Trudeau, who is religious, is also expected to discuss the Catholic community in Canada.

Trudeau, in Rome this week following his participation at the NATO and G7 summits, wants to promote trade and other ties with Italy, including the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union.

U.S. President Donald Trump met the pope at the Vatican last week.

Monday morning, the prime minister will take part in an event with the soccer team, A.S. Roma.

His wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, has joined him on this part of the trip and the couple were to celebrate their wedding anniversary with a private dinner in Rome on Sunday evening.

On Sunday, Trudeau appealed to the heart of the country by visiting Amatrice, a tiny town still struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake.

“It’s an opportunity to share our thoughts, our condolences, our sympathies, but also demonstrate our resolve to accompany our friends in this difficult time,” Trudeau said Sunday as he stood below a clock tower, the only structure standing on a street lined with rubble.

That clock is stopped at 3:36 — the time in the morning the 6.2-magnitude quake hit the area in central Italy about 100 kilometres northeast of Rome on August 24, 2016. Some 300 people were killed, including one Canadian.

Many of them were children, and signs of their presence, including an illustrated cloth book and a inflatable pool toy, could be seen among the rocks, dust and other rubble piled high.

Efforts to rebuild the town, which includes many heritage buildings from medieval times, have been moving slowly.

The Italian-Canadian community has been trying to bring more attention to that fact, raising money to help pay for things like medical vehicles needed to navigate the mountainous terrain.

Those efforts got a boost May 12 when Trudeau appeared at a fundraiser that also featured Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat Chrysler who was born in Italy but went to school in Canada.

Trudeau announced there that the Canadian government would match up to $2 million in donations to the Italy Earthquake Relief Fund.

That drew sharp criticism from Conservative MP Maxime Bernier, who was nearing the end of the leadership race he ultimately lost to Andrew Scheer.

At the time, Bernier took to Twitter to say that he loves Italy, but it is a rich country that can afford to rebuild without money from Canadian taxpayers, which he argued should have gone to help more victims of the floods in Quebec and eastern Ontario.

The money will go toward humanitarian aid in the area, which is still experiencing tremors.

The prime minister arrived in the town via an Italian government helicopter and he was greeted warmly with a long embrace by the local mayor, Sergio Pirozzi.

In Amatrice, the Trudeaus surveyed the damage while wearing hard hats, spoke to residents, emergency responders and others working to rebuild the town.

They also laid a bouquet of flowers at a memorial to the victims.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper, who issued a residential schools apology on behalf of the Canadian government in 2008, did not raise the issue directly during a 10-minute audience with Pope Francis two years ago. Harper did mention the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In 2009, the previous pope, Benedict XVI, did express “sorrow” on behalf of the Catholic Church for the “deplorable conduct” by some members of the church in their treatment of indigenous children in residential schools.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report said this did not go far enough, especially since it was not made in public.</s>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Pope Francis discussed reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples, religious freedom and current ethical issues during a private meeting at the Vatican.

The meeting between the pontiff and Trudeau, who was accompanied by his wife, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, was described as “cordial,” by the official Vatican statement.

Prime Minister Trudeau invited Pope Francis to visit Canada, according to the readout of the meeting released by the Prime Minister’s Office. Trudeau was expected to raise the issue of an official papal apology for the role of the Catholic Church in the now infamous Indian residential schools.

“Prime Minister Trudeau discussed at length Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action,” said the statement released by the PMO, referring to the 94-point road-map to reconciliation.

The 58th recommendation calls upon “the Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools.”

It is estimated that more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children were separated from their families and forced into residential schools run by various Christian denominations over much of the last century in a deliberate policy to “take the Indian out of the child.”

Many of the children suffered horrific physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, brothers and sisters.

More than 3,200 Aboriginal children attending these residential schools died and were often buried in unmarked graves, according to the final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which called the policy of forced assimilation “a cultural genocide.”

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said the AFN, which represents First Nations people living on reserves, appreciates Trudeau’s efforts to get a papal apology.

“This will do much for healing and closure and will promote reconciliation between Canadians and First Nation peoples in Canada,” Bellegarde said.

“We will remain steadfast in our advocacy to the Pope for a statement of apology to the Residential school survivors, as well as the renunciation of the Doctrine of Discovery as an illegal and racist doctrine,” he added referring to doctrinal teaching that provided ideological and theological cover for the enslavement and dispossession of Aboriginal peoples of the Americas by the their Christian conquerors.

In 2009, the previous pope, Benedict XVI, did express “sorrow” on behalf of the Catholic Church for the “deplorable conduct” by some members of the church in their treatment of indigenous children in residential schools.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report said this did not go far enough, especially since it was not made in public.

The statement by the Vatican said two leaders discussed the contribution of the Catholic Church Canada’s social life of the country.

“The parties then focused on the themes of integration and reconciliation, as well as religious freedom and current ethical issues,” the statement said.

“Finally, in the light of the results of the recent G7 summit, attention turned to various matters of an international nature, with special attention to the Middle East and areas of conflict.”

Trudeau also met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.

Trudeau also presented Pope Francis with a Montagnais-French dictionary written by a French Jesuit in the 17th century.

In return, the Pope gave the prime minister a gold medal marking the fourth year of his pontificate, an autographed copy of his message for World Peace Day and three papal letters about family, environment and evangelism.​

With files from The Canadian Press
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asks Pope Francis for a public apology for the Roman Catholic Church's role in the abuse of indigenous children in the residential school system. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued an expression of sorrow after an audience with Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine.