Pope Francis in Indian Chief's Headdress Sparks Social Media Outrage
11:52 GMT 26.07.2022 (Updated: 12:56 GMT 14.04.2023)
© AP Photo / Eric Gay / Pope Francis dons a headdress that was gifted to him during a visit with Indigenous peoples at Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, in Maskwacis, Alberta
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Canada's 'woke' Liberal Party Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced to apologize in 2019 after photos and video footage emerged of him as a young man wearing 'blackface' make-up and costumed as a stereotypical east-Indian.
Social media is ablaze after Pope Francis donned a native Canadian headdress during a visit where he apologized for "cultural genocide".
The Argentinian pontiff visited the site of the former Ermineskin Residential School in Maskwacis, Alberta, on Monday and met with leaders of four Cree nations.
It was one of many state-funded church-run boarding schools, where some 150,000 children from Canada's pre-Colombian communities were forcibly sent from the 19th century until the 1970s in a bid to "Christianise" them.
"With shame and unambiguously, I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the indigenous peoples," the pope said.
The four chiefs escorted the wheelchair-bound head of the Roman Catholic Church to their Powwow ceremonial grounds, where they presented him with a traditional feathered headdress.
An Indigenous leader placed a traditional headdress on Pope Francis during his visit Monday to the site of a former residential school where Indigenous children suffered abuse in Canada. pic.twitter.com/ta859U66WU
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 25, 2022
But many Twitter users were angered by Francis' apparent misappropriation of another race's culture.
Tweet criticising Pope Francis for wearing an American-Indian headdress during a visit to Canada
© Twitter
Tweet criticising Pope Francis for wearing an American-Indian headdress during a visit to Canada
© Twitter
Some saw the funny side of it, however.
Tweet criticising Pope Francis for wearing an American-Indian headdress during a visit to Canada
© Twitter
20 September 2021, 03:16 GMT
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced to apologize in 2019 after photos and video footage emerged of him as a young man wearing 'blackface' make-up and costumed as a stereotypical east-Indian.
The PM has also made numerous public appearances wearing a native Canadian headdress.
