Pope Leo XIV returned dozens of indigenous artifacts from the Vatican Museums to Canada on Saturday, honouring a demand made in 2022 to his predecessor, Francis.

Catholic missionaries originally sent the 62 objects from Canada to Rome a century ago.

The items, held in the ethnological collections in the Vatican Museums, were presented to the head of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) at an audience in the Apostolic Palace, the Vatican said. 

"His Holiness Pope Leo XIV desires that this gift represent a concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity," it said in English. 

It noted that the artefacts handed to CCCB head Pierre Goudreault "bear witness to the history of the encounter between faith and the cultures of the indigenous peoples".

During a "penitential pilgrimage" across Canada in 2022, Pope Francis offered a historic apology to indigenous communities for the decades-long abuse of children in Catholic-run schools, which he said was "genocide". 

During that trip, the communities asked the Vatican to return the culturally valuable objects. 

The Vatican said on Saturday the items, belonging to various indigenous communities, were sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries in Canada between 1923 and 1925 for the 1925 Vatican Missionary Exhibition.

"These artefacts... have now been given to the CCCB, who... are committed to ensuring that these artefacts are properly safeguarded, respected and preserved," the Vatican said. 

© Agence France-Presse