RELIGION
Pope’s Canada trip to heal “evil” done to indigenous people
July 24, 2022 - July 30, 2022 - Pope Francis is to apologise for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s indigenous school system that subjected many children to physical and sexual abuse.
Pope Francis says his upcoming trip to Canada will be a “pilgrimage of penance” that he hopes will help heal wounds made by the Church’s abusive role in trying to erase indigenous cultures in state-sanctioned schools.
Between 1831 and 1996, around 150,000 children were taken from their homes, with many subjected to abuse, rape and malnutrition in what Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls a “cultural genocide”.
The 85-year-old pontiff will visit Edmonton, Maskwacis, Lac Ste. Anne, Quebec, and Iqaluit near the arctic circle – saying two Masses and delivering nine homilies and addresses.
The trip, which had been in doubt due to the Pope’s recent knee fracture, will run from July 24-30, 2022.