Commentary
The apology industry has never been busier. On July 25, Pope Francis offered an apology to the indigenous survivors of Canada’s residential schools, where children suffered “cultural destruction and forced assimilation” promoted by government policy at the time and keenly implemented by the Catholic Church. The Pope called this policy “disastrous” and “evil.”
In June, the Belgian King Philippe offered an apology to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo for atrocities committed when his ancestor, King Leopold II, ruled the Belgian Congo as a personal fiefdom.
National apologies are also a regular occurrence in the Australian parliament. Most recently, on Oct. 22, 2018, former Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivered the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse. In delivering the apology, the prime minister atoned for institutional child sexual abuse….