Pope Francis arrives in Canada to apologize for church’s role in the residential school system

Pope Francis arrived in Western Canada today for a six-day visit and he is expected to deliver a long-awaited apology for decades of abuse of First Nations people by members of his church.

People across the country have been waiting to hear this apology for years. Pope Francis is calling this a “penitential pilgrimage.” His plane touched down in Edmonton early this afternoon and tomorrow he’s expected to make the apology people have been waiting for.

The Pope’s flight from Rome landed early this afternoon flying the flags of the Vatican and Canada. On the ground, the Pope was using a wheelchair because of leg pain. He was greeted by First Nations leaders, along with Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General Mary Simon and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

On the plane, the Pope told reporters the visit must be handled with care.

A statement on his Twitter account said,

Dear brothers and sisters of #Canada, I come among you to meet the indigenous peoples. I hope, with God's grace, that my penitential pilgrimage might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken. Please accompany me with #prayer.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 24, 2022

The Pope’s visit follows the tragic history of more than 150,000 First Nations children who faced abuse in residential schools, more than 60 per cent run by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Pope apologized to First Nations leaders at the Vatican earlier this year. There had been calls for an apology in Canada, but no response until last year when hundreds of graves were discovered at residential schools in Western Canada. The graves brought national and international attention to residential school abuse.

In Edmonton, the Pope was scheduled to rest today, then begin a series of meetings this week. The Pope’s itinerary includes a visit Monday morning to the former Ermineskin Residential School, where he will meet residential school survivors and is expected to deliver the apology.

On Tuesday, he will celebrate an open-air mass at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium, with up to 65,000 people expected.

On Wednesday and Thursday, he will fly to Quebec to meet with First Nations leaders, then Friday he’ll fly to Iqaluit in the Arctic to meet residential school survivors before returning to Rome.

When the Pope delivers the apology, he is expected to speak partly in the Ojibwa language which is one of the languages First Nations children were forbidden from speaking and could be beaten for speaking when they were forced into the residential schools.

Closer to home, Jason Gaidola shares what Indigenous communities in our region have to say about the Pope’s arrival in Canada. Watch: