{"id":98358,"date":"2025-10-21T14:08:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T18:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=98358"},"modified":"2025-10-21T14:08:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T18:08:31","slug":"afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/21\/afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items\/","title":{"rendered":"AFN says it&#8217;s talking to the Vatican about returning sacred items"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Alessia Passafiume The Assembly of First Nations says it&#8217;s talking to the Vatican Museum about repatriating a number of sacred items from its collection. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says there are still a number of logistical issues that need to be addressed before the items can be returned, including protocols to ensure their safe transfer. The AFN says it will announce further details only after plans are finalized with the Vatican. Woodhouse Nepinak says the items held in the museum are &#8220;living, sacred pieces&#8221; and must be treated as such. She says the work is very important to First Nations communities which have been calling for the return of their artifacts for years. Woodhouse Nepinak thanked the late Pope Francis for his work to advance the repatriation of&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F10%2F21%2Fafn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alessia Passafiume The Assembly of First Nations says it&#8217;s talking to the Vatican Museum about repatriating a number of sacred items from its collection. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says there are still a number of logistical issues that need to be addressed before the items can be returned, including protocols to ensure their safe transfer. The AFN says it will announce further details only after plans are finalized with the Vatican. Woodhouse Nepinak says the items held in the museum are &#8220;living, sacred pieces&#8221; and must be treated as such. She says the work is very important to First Nations communities which have been calling for the return of their artifacts for years. Woodhouse Nepinak thanked the late Pope Francis for his work to advance the repatriation of... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F10%2F21%2Fafn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-national-news","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AFN says it&#039;s talking to the Vatican about returning sacred items - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/21\/afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AFN says it&#039;s talking to the Vatican about returning sacred items - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alessia Passafiume The Assembly of First Nations says it&#8217;s talking to the Vatican Museum about repatriating a number of sacred items from its collection. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says there are still a number of logistical issues that need to be addressed before the items can be returned, including protocols to ensure their safe transfer. The AFN says it will announce further details only after plans are finalized with the Vatican. Woodhouse Nepinak says the items held in the museum are &#8220;living, sacred pieces&#8221; and must be treated as such. She says the work is very important to First Nations communities which have been calling for the return of their artifacts for years. Woodhouse Nepinak thanked the late Pope Francis for his work to advance the repatriation of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/21\/afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-21T18:08:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/21\\\/afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/21\\\/afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"AFN says it&#8217;s talking to the Vatican about returning sacred items\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-21T18:08:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/21\\\/afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":169,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\",\"National News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/21\\\/afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/21\\\/afn-says-its-talking-to-the-vatican-about-returning-sacred-items\\\/\",\"name\":\"AFN says it's talking to the Vatican about returning sacred items - 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