The Vatican is poised to return a collection of a “few dozen” cultural treasures from its Anima Mundi ethnological museum to Indigenous communities across Canada before the end of the Jubilee year.

An official announcement about this repatriation is expected in the coming weeks.

The Catholic Register sought official confirmation from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and received the following statement from Robert Di Pede, the CCCB’s assistant general secretary.

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“Over the last number of years, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has been working closely with Indigenous peoples on key issues of significance, including artifacts, many of which are currently in the care of the Vatican Museums,” wrote Di Pede.

“The CCCB supports the desire to reunite artifacts with their originating communities and would welcome this as another step in the ongoing journey of healing, reconciliation and hope. Any official announcement regarding next steps will be led by the Holy See at the appropriate time.”

While many entities involved are reporting the collection items in the Vatican's possession as artifacts, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepniak emphasized in a statement detailing the ongoing discussions that First Nations peoples don’t use that descriptor.

“There are many logistical issues that need to be addressed, as well as important matters around First Nations protocols to ensure the return and transfer of sacred items is done in the proper way,” stated Nepniak. “For First Nations, these items are not artifacts. They are living, sacred pieces of our cultures and ceremonies and must be treated as the invaluable objects that they are.

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“We appreciate the collaborative efforts of all the parties involved, as this work is very important to First Nations. To minimize the possibility of misinformation around this logistically complicated matter, we will only announce further details once confirmed.”

Pope Leo XIV, setting in motion the restitution of Indigenous articles, would be honouring the stated will of his predecessor Pope Francis. Francis made a public statement in May 2023 about how the Vatican had “agreed to do so.” And in a meeting with then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2024 G7 summit in Italy, Francis again expressed support.

Rosella Kinoshameg, an Odawa/Ojibway elder who serves as board chair of the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund (IRF), explained to the Register in May 2023 how the return of these treasures could be a restorative measure.

“They could help to instil that sense of pride that these artifacts were made by our people, by our ancestors,” said Kinoshameg. “It’s maybe something that the younger generation can pick up to carry that on.”

The three Indigenous delegations that visited Rome in late March and early April 2022, several months before Pope Francis’ historic penitential pilgrimage from July 24-29, toured the Anima Mundi collection. One of the images the visitors beheld that day was a Madonna and Child Jesus statue by Quebec Inuit artist Tivi Ilisituk. This was a sculpture that was expressly given as a gift to Pope Benedict XVI in Rome in 2006.

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While it is well known and non-controversial how the aforementioned sculpture got from Canada to Rome, the Register’s Michael Swan reported in 2022 that there were “mixed feelings” during the 2022 tour. Some emissaries were “in awe, while some wanted to know how these examples of Indigenous culture ended up half a world away from where they were made.”

The Vatican Museums expressed interest at the time in uncovering reasons why.