Pope Francis has described what happened at Roman Catholic schools for indigenous children in Canada as genocide. The schools were established to forcefully assimilate indigenous children by changing their language, culture and faith. The pope said he didn't use the word 'genocide' previously because it is a technical word, but said what he saw was 'clearly' a genocide. His comments came as he flew back to Rome after a trip to Canada in which the pope asked forgiveness and issued a historic apology for the church's role in the 'cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time.'