Vatican says artifacts were gifts; some Indigenous groups push for their return

Some of the world's greatest art and historical treasures are held in the Vatican museums; shown here is a display at the Musei Vaticani, taken in May 2015. Canadian Indigenous groups are requesting the return of objects held in a lesser-known Vatican museum, the Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Ank Kumar. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Some of the world's greatest art and historical treasures are held in the Vatican museums; shown here is a display at the Musei Vaticani, taken in May 2015. Canadian Indigenous groups are requesting the return of objects held in a lesser-known Vatican museum, the Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Ank Kumar. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Some of the world’s greatest art and historical treasures are held in the Vatican museums; shown here is a display at the Musei Vaticani, taken in May 2015. Canadian Indigenous groups are requesting the return of objects held in a lesser-known Vatican museum, the Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Ank Kumar. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

VATICAN CITY (AP) – The Vatican Museums are home to some of the most magnificent artworks in the world, from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to ancient Egyptian antiquities and a pavilion full of papal chariots. But one of the museum’s least-visited collections is becoming its most contested before Pope Francis’ trip to Canada.

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