Vatican thefts Indigenous groups want back

Nicole Winfield, Associated Press (ap.org, 7/20/22); Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

President of the Metis Community Cassidy Caron speaks to the media in St. Peter's Square after their meeting with Pope Francis at The Vatican, 3/28/22. The restitution of Indigenous and colonial-era artifacts is on the pope's agenda (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File).

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Vatican says they're gifts; Indigenous groups want them back

VATICAN CITY, Holy See/Rome — The [imperial] Vatican Museums are home to some of the most magnificent artworks in the world, from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to [stolen] ancient Egyptian antiquities and a pavilion full of papal chariots.

The Vatican’s Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum, located near the food court and right before the main exit, houses tens of thousands of artifacts and art made by [conquered] Indigenous peoples from around the world, much of it sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 exhibition in the Vatican gardens.

The Vatican says the feathered headdresses, carved walrus tusks, masks and embroidered animal skins were gifts to Pope Pius XI, who wanted to celebrate the Church’s global reach, its missionaries and the lives of the Indigenous peoples they evangelized. More

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