Survivors of Australia's Stolen Generations are calling on Pope Francis to apologise for atrocities committed by the Catholic Church against Australia's Stolen Generations survivors.

The call comes as the Pope conducts a visit to Canada to apologise for years of physical, sexual and cultural abuse committed by representatives of the church at residential schools.

The Catholic Church this month agreed to say sorry to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for past injustices and commited to work towards recognition, reconciliation and justice at its Fifth Plenary Council of Australia.

Bringing Them Home WA co-chairman Tony Hansen said he was pleased to hear of the Pope's willingness to apologise, but he now needed to offer the same words to Stolen Generations survivors.

"Stolen Generations survivors in Australia have a strong connection with First Nations Peoples from Canada who suffered under the Residential Schools Program in that country, but we need the Catholic Church to acknowledge that similar abuse happened in this Country," he said.

"Another concerning parallel with the residential schools in Canada is the growing evidence that there are also unmarked graves of Aboriginal babies at Catholic run institutions in Australia such as St Mary's Mission and St Joseph's Native School at New Norcia.

"We simply don't know how many of our people were buried at some of these

Missions - it has never been properly investigated."

Such a move would mark the second Papal apology to Indigenous Australians, after Pope John Paul II in 2001 apologised for what he described as the "shameful injustices" of the past, including for sexual deeds of some of the clergy in the church.

Now-retired bishop Pat Power told ABC's The World Today at the time of the apology the church's involvement in the Stolen Generations was substantial.

"I might point out, of course, that a lot of the role that the church had was in providing care for, not only Aboriginal children but for children generally, with a whole series of orphanages and institutions across the country," he said.

"So that often children that were in need and in danger of serious neglect, that these institutions were open for them.

"Unfortunately, of course, the government at time had policies that it would try to, in some ways early in the piece, to try and even stamp out the Aboriginal culture, and some of those policies the Church was caught up in, when those children were forcibly removed, in accepting some of those children."

That apology came 15 years after a a 1986 visit to Alice Springs in which Pope John Paul II said "history would remember" the good example of the church's "charity" towards Indigenous Australians.

"Among those who have loved and cared for the Indigenous people, we especially recall with profound gratitude all the missionaries of the Christian faith," he said.

"They helped to educate the Aboriginal people and offered health and social services.

"Whatever their human frailty, and whatever mistakes they may have made, nothing can ever minimize the depth of their charity.

"Nothing can ever cancel out their greatest contribution, which was to proclaim to you Jesus Christ and to establish his Church in your midst."

WA Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation chairman Jim Morrison said it had now been proven churches were complicit in racist child removal policies.

"Sadly, many of the missions which were run by churches were the worst offenders and data from the Royal Commission highlighted the fact that over 60 per cent of survivors who reported sexual abuse in institutions were from Catholic Church-run institutions," he said.

"We would welcome the opportunity to engage with the Catholic Church in Australia and the Vatican to facilitate a formal Apology to Survivors in this Country."

The Catholic Church has been contacted for comment.