Pope Francis is expected to visit at least three cities during a trip to Canada in late July, CBC News has learned.
Sources involved in planning the trip say the pope is likely to stop in Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit during what is planned to be a four-day trip to the country. CBC News did not identify confidential sources as they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The pontiff initially announced plans to visit the Vatican on April 1 with Indigenous delegates from Canada, where he offered an initial apology for the actions of individual members of the Roman Catholic Church in Canadian housing schools.
Sources say the trip to the three planned stops – which will be funded by the Canadian Catholic Church with possible federal dollars – was discussed before Vatican meetings.
Delegates traveling to Rome expect Pope Francis to make a strong apology on Canadian soil for the church’s role in housing school management, which will fulfill a key call from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Metis National Council President Cassidy Caron said Vatican preliminary teams had already surveyed Iqaluit, Quebec City and Edmonton in preparation for the trip.
Gerald Antoine, center-left regional leader of the Assembly of the First Nations, center-left, Inuit Tapiriti Kanatami President Nathan Lunch and Metis National Council President Cassidy Caron walk in St. Peter’s Square after the last audience with Pope Francis on April 1. (Yara Nardi / Reuters)
Karen said her organization had also discussed a planned papal visit through a committee set up by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“We hope the pope will come to Canada,” Caron said.
“He will apologize, he will make, I hope, a little stronger apology … which goes a little further and recognizes and acknowledges the role of the Catholic Church in boarding schools. Not just these people.
A statement from the Vatican is expected soon
If the pope goes to Edmonton, Caron said he hopes he will take the opportunity to visit Lac Ste. Anne’s place of worship, designated a national historical site of Canada, 78 kilometers northwest.
“This is a special site,” she said. “A spiritual place, a place of healing for the people of Metis.”
In Rome, Pope Francis said he wanted to attend the annual pilgrimage to Lac Ste. Anne, which takes place from 25 to 28 July this year.
Pope Francis held his last audience in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace with delegates from the first nations, Inuit and mestizos on April 1. (Vatican Media / Reuters)
“This year I would like to be with you in these days,” Pope Francis said in Italian on April 1 during his last remarks to indigenous delegates.
The pope’s planned day trip to Iqaluit was followed by an invitation from Inuit President Tapiri Kanatami (ITK) Nathan Lunch, who was asked by Inuit leaders to advocate a visit to the pope in the capital, Nunavut.
“Given that the Catholic Church has had an imprint in the Canadian Arctic for more than 100 years, we thought it was very important for the pope to see our homeland,” Lunch said.
“And understand the context of the Inuit in the broader root context of the Catholic Church’s presence, as well as the role it has played in the management of boarding schools.”
Pope Francis has expressed interest in taking part in Lac Ste in Alberta. Anne Pilgrimage, which takes place from 25 to 28 July this year. (Edmonton Catholic Archdiocese / YouTube)
Lunch said ITK attended a site visit by Vatican officials last Friday in Iqaluit, which he described as positive.
“We recognize our role as useful, not instructive to the pope on what he should or should not do,” Lunch said.
In a statement to CBC News, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) said it was consulting with Indigenous national organizations on dates and locations not yet finalized, and would continue these discussions on programming the visit if and when be confirmed.
The Vatican has the final say, and sources say an official announcement is expected in the coming weeks.
The papal visit will be different from the 1984 trip
Pope Francis received several invitations from indigenous leaders to visit their territories, including the leaders of the first nations of Manitoba and Kúkpi7 (chapter) Rosan Casimir of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc.
Casimir gave the pope a handwritten invitation to spend time in her community, sparking retribution for housing schools last year after announcing the discovery of what are believed to be more than 200 unmarked graves near the former Indian housing school site. Kamloops in British Columbia.
During his 12-day trip through Canada, Pope John Paul II waved to the thousands who gathered on September 17, 1984, for his open-air liturgy at Namao Airport outside Edmonton. (Vatican Pool / The Canadian Press)
Some sources worry that deciding where the pope is going may disappoint some people.
But because the 85-year-old pontiff has significant health constraints, they say the central centers, which can take in as many survivors from residential schools as possible, will be chosen to represent northern, western and eastern Canada.
Lunch said the indigenous people should not take responsibility for how the journey unfolds or become “guardians of winners and losers” at the site of the pope’s visit.
“This is their event. That’s what they want to do, “said Lunch. “The Catholic Church and the Vatican must have that.”
Members of the Association of the Assembly of First Nations and Local Tourism of the Canadian Delegation of Local Artists will perform at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on April 1. (Yara Nardi / Reuters)
This papal visit is expected to be much shorter than the 12-day trip of Pope John Paul II in 1984, which included every region of the country, and depends entirely on the pontiff’s health.
Pope Francis has a chronic nervous disease called sciatica, which causes pain from the lower back down to the legs. He walks with a pronounced limp and has difficulty using stairs, so accessibility is a key factor for any site he visits.
Planning for papal visits usually took at least a year, so decisions on his visit to Canada unfolded in a much shorter period of time. This will happen after his planned trip to the African continent in early July.
“Canadian bishops are grateful that Pope Francis has accepted their invitation to visit Canada in worship of healing and reconciliation,” the CCCB said in a statement to CBC News.
“Given the Holy Father’s advanced age and his desire for simple, modest visits, we can expect the visit to Canada to reflect this reality both in the duration of the pilgrimage and in the geography of such a visit, given the size of Canada. . We can expect that the visit to Canada will be very different from those of the past. “
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