Pope Francis has expressed his willingness to return colonial-era artifacts in the Vatican Museum that were acquired from Indigenous peoples in Canada. During an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary, the Pope stated that talks were underway to return these artifacts and that he was open to returning other problematic objects in the Vatican’s collection on a case-by-case basis. He also cited the Seventh Commandment, stating that if one steals something, they have to give it back.
The Pope recently returned to Greece three fragments of the Parthenon sculptures that had been in the Vatican Museums’ collection for two centuries. He believes that when such returns are possible, museums should undertake them as it is the right thing to do. This statement is the Pope’s first on the ongoing restitution debate that has caused many museums in Europe and North America to rethink their ethnographic and anthropological collections.
The Vatican has an extensive collection of artifacts and art made by Indigenous peoples from around the world. The Vatican insists that the artifacts were gifts. However, Indigenous scholars dispute whether Native peoples at the time could have freely offered their handicrafts given the power differentials at play in colonial periods. The Pope, who knows this history well, visited Canada last year to personally apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses they endured at the hands of Catholic missionaries at residential schools.
The Vatican has agreed to return Indigenous things underway with Canada, and the Holy See’s experience meeting with the Indigenous groups in Canada had been “very fruitful.” The Pope believes that museums must make a discernment in each case where possible, restitution of objects should be made. While looting was a common feature during colonial-era wars and occupations, he believes that decisions to take the good things from others were wrong.
The Vatican Museums are mentioned in the 2020 book “The Brutish Museums” as one of the museums that “may” have objects looted from Benin City, in today’s Nigeria, in 1897. The Vatican Museums haven’t responded to requests for information.