So why is this apology relevant? Is he apologizing for perceived atrocities carried out by people who are now dead? Yeah, that will carry a lot of weight. How about this angle: the pope personally has no significance to people outside of the catholic persuasion (Methodists, Baptists, Quaker, Lutheran, etc.). So why would his apology matter to that demographic? And even with the apology you still house bitterness, characterised by your ending comment: "hundreds of years later". Just goes to show that even if one apologizes for an event, people will still find reasons to nitpick.

k serously you obviously dont grasp the situation. and another thing since you didnt partake in the redidential schools you will never know how much it actualy means to them. and yes there are preists and people who experienced residential schools still alive today. it does mean something. your comment is absoultly absurd and stupid. and another thing, do you want me to lie and sugar coat it? im not going to lie i dont have anything to prove to anybody on here its my damn oppinion.

It's your opinion. Exactly! So in your relativistic society, why should your opinion have any bearing on anyone else in this world? Also, why should your opinion make a difference in the values someone else purports? All this means is that this apology wasn't necessary b/c relatively speaking, nothing that was done in the residential schools was ultimately wrong. We can reason away anything that initially looked bad. After all, everything is up for interpretation...

Saroin420, you're such a sweetheart. I love debating with you! No, seriously. Thank you for looking out for my well being. But your warnings are not necessary. Again, it comes down to does one trully believe that the God of the Bible is who He says He is. And if He is, then He's got my back -- all the time. He's not human and has control over everything, never sleeps and is always on guard. I don't worry about the superficial.

But the only way for there to be absolutes is if God exists. Any other ideology you find hinges on human performance and leaves morality up for individual interpretation. Why? Because all those other ideologies that don't believe in God base their moral foundations on humans who are fickle and subject to changing their minds based on how they're feeling that day.

You have explained what you believe to me on numerous occasions. However, when I unveiled the double standards that you are shackled to, you continued to give the old "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" routine, trying to diflect attention away. Here's what's going on: You're giving one-ended stick arguments, setting standards that one group must abide by yet the other doesn't have to. Meaning, you want those who purport religious beliefs to apologize for atrocities committed in the name of religion; yet you don't want the atheists to apologize for what Hitler, Stalin and Mao did in the name of atheism.
Saroin420, but you need to calm down. Enough with the slapping and nasty talk. It doesn't bolster your arguments, rather it tears them down. You're actually doing me a favor because you make yourself look like one of those fanatics. And I know you're a pretty reasonable kind of girl.

Oh and about the whole people being greatful with the popes appologiy, yes lets thank him for the appology dispite what the said yes lets thank him.
It's truly meaning less.

I believe it was easy for the pope to appologize because it was some other persons foult but just because he's the head of the church he had to a appologize to get it done and over with. What's it good for really, like misscherie said there already DEAD!
It's not the popes deal, he dosent care because it wasnt him the one with the fault.
I guess it was really to please the people.

there are still people out there today who have experienced residential schooling and there are still people who were infact the preists at these schools. still alive today.

this apology will mean alot to people and heonstly i look up to this pope more than the ones before him because he actualy stepped up with his people and other people needed him to, unlike other popes in the past have failed to apologize on behalf of the church for what was done many years ago.