The Ottawa Attorney’s Office –
The pope did not specifically refer to the sexual violence perpetrated against indigenous minors in mission schools. Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller said the “gaps” in the apology demanded by the Pope “cannot be ignored”. Referring to the sexual abuse attributed to members of the Catholic Church, Miller added that Pope Francis is speaking of “evil” committed by individual Christians, but “not by the Catholic Church as an institution.”
The Journey and the Apology –
On July 24, the Pope, on his 37th apostolic journey, was greeted at the airport in Edmonton, Alberta, by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mary Simon, a representative of the Inuk people and Canada’s first female Indigenous Governor-General. The pope kissed the indigenous leader’s hand upon arrival, a gesture that set the tone of the visit, which was described by the head of the church himself as a “pilgrimage of penance” for generations of forced assimilation of the indigenous population by Catholic missionaries. .
The next day, the Pope met the “survivors” of a mission school in Maskwacis, where the Pope prayed on behalf of the Catholic Church and issued a public apology. Leaders of the Confederation of the Treaty of Six Nations, which represents Indigenous Canadians, are demanding that the church, in addition to apologies, shed light on the plight of the many children who never returned from the mission schools and that they make amends, including in Form of native artefacts preserved by the Vatican Museums.
On the same day, in a speech to representatives of the Native American communities, Francis acknowledged that his apologies are only the first step towards reconciliation: “Many of you and your representatives have said that an apology is not an end point. . I totally agree: they’re just the first step, the starting point,” he said.
“I, too, am aware that looking at the past, what you do will never be enough, asking for forgiveness and trying to repair the damage done, and looking ahead, I will never be small for everything, what you are doing to give life to a culture that avoids not only not repeating but also not finding space for such situations,” noted Bergoglio. “An important part of this process is a serious search for the truth about the past and to help boarding school survivors to embark on healing paths from the trauma they have suffered,” the Pope concluded.
The final stage –
Meanwhile, in Quebec, on the fifth and penultimate day of his visit to Canada, Pope Francis dedicates his agenda to relations with the Catholic community and the clergy with two celebrations. Francis will preside at Mass at 10:00 a.m. (4:00 p.m. Italian time) in the Sanctuary of Sainte Anne de Beaupré and at 5:15 p.m. (11:15 p.m. in Italy) he will celebrate Vespers with the bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians and others Pastor at Notre Dame Cathedral. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be present at the 10am Mass.
Just during the Pope’s visit to Qebec City, Prime Minister Trudeau violated protocols by asking to personally intervene in a meeting between the Pope and Governor-General and representative of indigenous nations, Mary Simon. The prime minister’s office stated that Trudeau was keen to intervene publicly “given the importance of the issue.” During his speech, the Prime Minister recalled that the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission had asked the Church for an apology for the abuses committed in so-called resident schools since 2015.
Prime Minister Trudeau also focused on the issue, the real reason for the Pope’s trip to Canada. “As Her Holiness said, asking for forgiveness is not the end of the matter, it is a starting point, a first step – he explains -. On Monday morning I sat down with the survivors and heard their reactions to his apology. she will be drawing what she needs. But there is no doubt that she has had a tremendous impact. The survivors and their descendants must be at the heart of whatever we do together going forward.”
The Pope’s warning to politicians –
Pope Francis’ warning to politicians on his fourth day in Canada addressed other issues: “We must be able to look to future generations, not to the immediate convenience of election dates,” the pope said of his trip to Canada . And on the subject of war, “nonsensical madness”: “We don’t need to divide the world into friend and foe, to arm ourselves to the teeth,” says Bergoglio.
“The major challenges of the present, such as peace, climate change, the consequences of pandemics and international migration, have one constant in common: they are global, they concern everyone. And when they all talk about the necessity of the whole, politics cannot remain captive to self-interest,” warns the Pope.
“It is necessary to know how, as indigenous wisdom teaches, to look to the seven future generations, not to the immediate convenience, to the election deadlines, to the support of the lobbies. And also the desires for fraternity, justice and peace of the younger generations,” he adds. “It takes a creative and far-sighted politics that knows how to go beyond the party schemes to respond to global challenges,” affirms the Pope .
Furthermore, “Today, in the face of the senseless madness of war, we must once again placate the extreme opposition and heal the wounds of hatred”. “We don’t have to divide the world into friends and foes, distance ourselves and arm ourselves to the teeth: it will not be the arms race and deterrence strategies that will bring peace and security – he says –. There is no need to ask ourselves how to continue the wars, but how to stop them. And to prevent the peoples from being held hostage again by frightening, protracted Cold Wars.
In one of the key passages of his speech, Francis once again points the finger at “the policies of assimilation and liberation, including the boarding school system, which have harmed many indigenous families and undermined their language, culture and worldview”. “Various local Catholic institutions were involved in this deplorable system promoted by the government authorities of the time – he says – which separated many children from their families; for this I express shame and pain and together with the bishops of this country I renew my plea for forgiveness for the evil that so many Christians have committed against indigenous peoples.
“It is tragic when, as happened in that historical period, the faithful adapt themselves to the comforts of the world rather than to the Gospel,” stresses the Pope.