In October 2024, investigative journalist Maria Laurino published a book she had been working on for seven years: The Price of Children.
Her groundbreaking work told the shocking-but-true story of an adoption
scandal that was directed by the highest levels of the Vatican from the
1950s to the 1970s.
"There
were women who were trapped into this situation and tremendous pressure
to relinquish their children," Laurino said. "There were women who were
tricked, who signed forms they didn't understand. And, in the worst
cases, there were women who were told their child had died."
Now, her story is quite literally in Pope Francis's hands.
Photo Credit: Vatican Media
Along with an Italian copy of the book (titled Il Prezzo degli Innocenti), the Pope received a letter from 60 Minutes, and also a letter on behalf of American adoptees from John Campitelli, whose own adoption story was featured in the book.
According to Italian newspaper Ansa, the letter from 60 Minutes included the following quote:
"We
wanted to bring this to your attention," the letter delivered to the
Pope reads, "because many of these American adoptees are still
struggling in their search for their Italian birth mothers. In your
recent trip to Belgium, you acknowledged and apologized for forced
adoptions similar to those we described in our story. In light of your
words, we wondered whether the Vatican is also considering apologizing
to American adoptees and their Italian mothers?"
Upon learning the Pope had received her book, Maria Laurino stated the following:
“I wrote The Price of Children
to give voice to thousands of Italian women silenced by history, and to
their children adopted in America. I also wrote this book to address
how the shaming of women and loss of our rights continue around the
world. I’m hopeful that Pope Francis will recognize the suffering of
these women and children as we need his leadership more than ever to
give some light to an increasingly dark world.”
To hear more from Maria Laurino, listen to her discuss The Price of Children on the “Open Book” podcast here.
Want to learn more? Buy The Price of Children now.
The Price of Children
By Maria Laurino
“I
could not put this book down. An amazing read…I was spellbound by the
variety of stories revealed here of heartache, of children longing for
their mothers and mothers forced to give up their children. Lives were
changed irrevocably, and she warns us that they can be changed again in a
similar, though more-up-to date manner. One of the best books I’ve
recently read.” —Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kittredge
The Vatican has formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery,”
which justified colonization and the taking of Indigenous lands.
Two Vatican departments issued a joint statement Thursday saying it’s not part of teachings of the Catholic Church.
Indigenous people have long called for the church to rescind the legal concept.
Joint Statement of the Dicasteries
for Culture and Education and for Promoting Integral Human Development
on the “Doctrine of Discovery”, 30.03.2023
1. In fidelity to the mandate received
from Christ, the Catholic Church strives to promote universal
fraternity and respect for the dignity of every human being.
2. For this reason, in the course of history the Popes have condemned
acts of violence, oppression, social injustice and slavery, including
those committed against indigenous peoples. There have also been
numerous examples of bishops, priests, women and men religious and lay
faithful who gave their lives in defense of the dignity of those
peoples.
3. At the same time, respect for the facts of history demands an
acknowledgement of the human weakness and failings of Christ’s disciples
in every generation. Many Christianshave committed evil acts against indigenous peoples for which recent Popes have asked forgiveness on numerous occasions.
4. In our own day, a renewed dialogue with indigenous peoples,
especially with those who profess the Catholic Faith, has helped the
Church to understand better their values and cultures. With their help,
the Church has acquired a greater awareness of their sufferings, past
and present, due to the expropriation of their lands, which they
consider a sacred gift from God and their ancestors, as well as the
policies of forced assimilation, promoted by the governmental
authorities of the time, intended to eliminate their indigenous
cultures. As Pope Francis has emphasized, their sufferings constitute a
powerful summons to abandon the colonizing mentality and to walk with
them side by side, in mutual respect and dialogue, recognizing the
rights and cultural values of all individuals and peoples. In this
regard, the Church is committed to accompany indigenous peoples and to
foster efforts aimed at promoting reconciliation and healing.
5. It is in this context of listening to indigenous peoples that the
Church has heard the importance of addressing the concept referred to as
the “doctrine of discovery.” The legal concept of “discovery” was
debated by colonial powers from the sixteenth century onward and found
particular expression in the nineteenth century jurisprudence of courts
in several countries, according to which the discovery of lands by
settlers granted an exclusive right to extinguish, either by purchase or
conquest, the title to or possession of those lands by indigenous
peoples. Certain scholars have argued that the basis of the
aforementioned “doctrine” is to be found in several papal documents,
such as the Bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493).
6. The “doctrine of discovery” is not part of the teaching of the
Catholic Church. Historical research clearly demonstrates that the papal
documents in question, written in a specific historical period and
linked to political questions, have never been considered expressions of
the Catholic faith. At the same time, the Church acknowledges that
these papal bulls did not adequately reflectthe equal dignity
and rights of indigenous peoples. The Church is also aware that the
contents of these documents were manipulated for political purposes by
competing colonial powers in order to justify immoral acts against
indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition
from ecclesiastical authorities. It is only just to recognize these
errors, acknowledge the terrible effects of the assimilation policies
and the pain experienced by indigenous peoples, and ask for pardon.
Furthermore, Pope Francis has urged: “Never again can the Christian
community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is
superior to others, or that it is legitimate to employ ways of coercing
others.”
7. In no uncertain terms, the Church’s magisterium upholds the
respect due to every human being. The Catholic Church therefore
repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human
rights of indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the
legal and political “doctrine of discovery”.
8. Numerous and repeated statements by the Church and the Popes
uphold the rights of indigenous peoples. For example, in the 1537 Bull Sublimis Deus, Pope Paul III wrote,“We
define and declare [ ... ] that [, .. ] the said Indians and all other
people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be
deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even
though they be outside the Christian faith; and that they may and
should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and possession of
their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the
contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect”.
9. More recently, the Church’s solidarity with indigenous peoples has
given rise to the Holy See’s strong support for the principles
contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. The implementation of those principles would improve the living
conditions and help protect the rights of indigenous peoples as well as
facilitate their development in a way that respects their identity,
language and culture.
“The
‘enrollment’ process was started by the Feds so they could use ‘blood
quantum’ to finish the Genocide of Native Americans. Now we are finishing the job ourselves by continuing to use it as a ‘membership’ requirement. Membership: like the Elks Club or Lions Club or the Moose Lodge. Sad.”
—Harold
Monteau, former chair of National Indian Gaming Commission and a
citizen of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, today on social media
QUEBEC,
CANADA - JULY 27: One-year-old Yonnan Flamand is lifted into the air by
his father Alland Flamand of Manawan as Pope Francis delivers remarks
at the Citadelle of Quebec on the Plains of Abraham on July 27, 2022 in
Quebec, Canada. Pope Francis is traveling across Canada for a
“pilgrimage of penance,” to meet with and apologize to Indigenous
communities for the abuse at Catholic-run residential schools. (Photo by
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Canadian Indigenous peoples face a reckoning after being granted an audience with a major symbol of their oppression.
Indigenous peoples’ most progressive hope for his trip was that he would rescind the 1493 Papal Bull and related Doctrine of Discovery,
which served as the historical Church-sanctioned policy rationale for
destroying and subverting Native culture in the so-called New World. But
he has not done that — and even the most idealistic of Indigenous
advocates suspected he would not.
To do that would have
undermined a foundational principle of Christian, colonial and
capitalistic ideology, and few contemporary world systems seem prepared
for the possible ramifications — financial, social and otherwise.
The
Papal Bull "Inter Caetera," issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493,
played a central role in the Spanish conquest of the New World. The
document supported Spain’s strategy to ensure its exclusive right to the
lands discovered by Columbus the previous year. It established a
demarcation line one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde
Islands and assigned Spain the exclusive right to acquire territorial
possessions and to trade in all lands west of that line. All others were
forbidden to approach the lands west of the line without special
license from the rulers of Spain. This effectively gave Spain a monopoly
on the lands in the New World.
The Bull stated that any
land not inhabited by Christians was available to be "discovered,"
claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers and declared that "the
Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere
increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that
barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself." This
"Doctrine of Discovery" became the basis of all European claims in the
Americas as well as the foundation for the United States’ western
expansion. In the US Supreme Court in the 1823 case Johnson v. McIntosh,
Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion in the unanimous decision held
"that the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right
to New World lands." In essence, American Indians had only a right of
occupancy, which could be abolished.
Questions abound: Will the papal bull ever be rescinded? If so, what
will that mean? Will the Pope make a similar visit to the U.S. and to
Latin America, which both experienced similar atrocities to the
Indigenous peoples of Canada? Will anything really change as a result of
this sorry snapshot?
**
Papal Visit
The historic visit by Pope Francis to Canada this week drew thousands of
Indigenous people from across Turtle Island to hear the apology they
had been expecting for the Catholic Church’s role in the ugly
residential school history.
ICT’s special correspondent Miles Morrisseau, Métis Nation, based in Manitoba, Canada, was among them. He witnessed the apology
in Maskwacis, Alberta, on the grounds of the former Ermineskin Indian
Residential School. He was there for the applause, for the tears and the
emotional protest song.
And he was there to gather reaction
to the long-awaited penance, from tribal leaders who gathered and the
First Nations, Métis and Inuit people who made a pilgrimage to see the
Pope.
He followed the Pope to Lac Ste. Anne where the Pontiff sat silently
looking toward the lake before blessing the crowd with its sacred
waters. And he was there to talk to the Cree woman whose tearful song on Monday brought an outpouring around the world.
ICT National Correspondent Mary Annette Pember also joined the coverage, gathering perspectives
from Indigenous people in the United States who hope the Pope will make
a similar “penitence pilgrimage” to apologize for the U.S. boarding
school system. She explored Indigenous demands that the Catholic Church return the tens of thousands of sacred artifacts stored in Vatican museums.
ICT gave readers the Indigenous perspective of a story that is very personal for many of us..
Here’s a round-up of ICT’s coverage of the papal visit:
By Miles Morrisseau and Mary Annette Pember
A six-day swing through the heart of Indigenous Canada is meant to be a ‘penitential voyage’ ... continue reading
By ICT
Pope Francis arrived Sunday in Canada to high expectations that he will
apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in operating Indigenous
residential schools ... continue reading
Indigenous
leaders and residential school survivors in Saskatchewan called on Pope
Francis to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery. The Archbishop of
Canterbury, one of the highest officials in the Church of England, also
recently promised to see what he could do about the doctrine. (Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press)
When
the Archbishop of Canterbury visited Saskatchewan earlier this month,
those who spoke with him made him aware of the damage caused by the
Doctrine of Discovery.
Many survivors tie its existence to the
creation and presence of residential schools, and a commissioner of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission recently said its ripple effect is
still being felt in schools today.
The commission's findings, as
survivors told the archbishop during his visit, show residential school
policy could be traced back to the doctrine and the papal bulls.
Chiefs
and leaders who attended the archbishop's visits in James Smith Cree
Nation and Prince Albert commended the promise to discuss the doctrine
with the Roman Catholic Church.
"How can we dismantle the
Doctrine of Discovery in a way so it can never be used again?" Rev.
Justin Welby asked the crowd who gathered to meet him in James Smith
Cree Nation.
Rev.
Justin Welby visited the James Smith Cree Nation to listen to
residential school survivors earlier this month. He promised to aid in
dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery by engaging with local officials
and with the Roman Catholic Church. (Bryan Eneas/CBC)
The doctrine and its powers
The Doctrine of Discovery's supposed power came from the Roman Catholic Church.
Papal
bulls, edicts from the pope guiding colonial powers on the treatment of
Indigenous people, were issued in the 15th century.
The bulls,
which empowered Christian colonial expansion, said any land "discovered"
by colonial powers could be claimed as their own.
They also
stated Indigeneous people who inhabited those lands were not Christian
and could be subjugated and converted to Christianity.
Sol
Sanderson, a Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations senator and
former chief, says colonial powers and nations eventually formed via the
doctrine would create their own policies designed to terminate the
rights of Indigenous people.
Only
Pope Francis can rescind the papal bulls issued in the 15th century
that gave colonial nations the power to ignore the rights of Indigenous
people. (Vatican Media/Reuters)
In Canada,
the termination of Indigenous rights came through the Indian Act, and
policies within the act led to the creation of residential schools in
Canada — a system, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission says, was
designed to destroy Indigenous people's sense of cultural identity.
Sanderson
says as he sees it, historically, the Canadian government has made
numerous attempts to diminish Indigenous rights, based on the ideas
passed through the generations that colonial powers are better suited to
govern Indigenous people, thanks to the doctrine.
But Sanderson says Indigenous people's inherent rights aren't and weren't ever superseded by the doctrine, just ignored by it.
"People
don't know nothing about inherent rights … they supersede everything,
but what are they, where do they come from?" Sanderson said.
"When
you look at the inherent rights we have, the inherent sovereignty of
our nations and inherent rights to self-determination, the inherent
right to education, health, social development, lands, resources,
economics, justice … that's the inherent rights we have."
Sanderson
says he hoped the Archbishop of Canterbury would come to an agreement
with the pope to implement a plan and put teeth into a strategy
resulting in the rescinding of the doctrine.
He says such an
agreement should recognize the sovereignty of Indigneous people, their
natural power to govern, their natural power to make treaties and their
natural power to legislate internally and externally both at home and
abroad — terms he says need to be dictated by Indigenous people.
Old history, modern effects
The
doctrine itself might seem like a relic of the past but retired Senator
Murray Sinclair, a commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, says its effects are still very much being felt today.
There's no doubt the doctrine contributed to the creation of residential schools, Sinclair says.
But
the doctrine also allowed for and created the thinking that colonial
powers could occupy Indigenous lands and territories — and in turn the
thinking that Indigenous people are inferior to non-Indigenous people,
particularly European settlers.
Thinking that colonial powers are
superior to Indigenous people is something he says permeated the
education system even beyond residential schools and is still being felt
today, even if schools have taken a "softer, more gentle approach" to
Canada's history.\
"They
still talk about the beauty of colonialism, the beauty of European
growth, the wisdom and intelligence of the leaders of Confederation, the
wisdom and intelligence of the people who've been in charge of
government over the years," Sinclair said.
"It's Indigenous
people who are made to look bad in the history books in this country and
that not only has a negative effect on the Indigenous children, it also
has a negative effect on non-Indigenous children."
He says
non-Indigenous children taught in school early on to believe they're
superior are potentially jeopardizing their relationship with Indigenous
people.
Sinclair says that factor is something that affected
him and other Indigenous people as children and caused a deep distrust
of all levels of non-Indigenous society — churches, educational systems,
government and many others.
'A matter of time'
The Archbishop of Canterbury himself can't rescind the papal bulls making up the Doctrine of Discovery.
His
promise to survivors gathered in James Smith Cree Nation and Prince
Albert earlier this month was to engage in discussions with the Pope
about the harms he learned about the doctrine while in Saskatchewan.
Rescinding of the document would come down to the Pope.
Murray Sinclair says he expects the Doctrine of Discovery will be rescinded in the near future. (Darin Morash/CBC)
Sinclair
says that's something this generation could see in its lifetime — and
it's something that needs to be done now for survivors' sake.
"I think it's a matter of time before the Doctrine of Discovery is ruled as being an irrelevant doctrine," Sinclair said.
He
says the question of what legal basis the Crown has to justify its
legal title over Indigenous people has appeared in the Supreme Court of
Canada a number of times, but hasn't been properly answered.
In
reading through legal decisions, he says, he's seen justices point out
the major act of reconciliation that needs to happen in Canada is
reconciling Crown sovereignty and Indigenous sovereignty.
"We're
hoping that the parties can do that, but if they leave it to the courts
to do that, then they may not be happy with the result," Sinclair said.
But with renewed calls for a Papal apology growing louder and a visit to Canada by Pope Francis
expected, it’s worth considering whether efforts to enlist powerful
institutions like the Catholic Church in reconciliation have been helped
or hindered by what Canadians hear about these early written records.
If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been
affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact
the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
