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Pope Francis Catechesis on Apostolic Visit to Canada
Paul VI Hall – Wednesday, 3 August 2022
The Apostolic Journey to Canada – It was very painful
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today I would like to share with you some reflections on the Apostolic Journey I made to Canada in recent days. It was a journey unlike any other. In fact, the main motivation was to meet the original populations to express my closeness and sorrow to them and to ask forgiveness – to ask forgiveness – for the evil caused to them by those Christians, including many Catholics, who in the past collaborated in the policies of forced assimilation and liberation of the governments of the time.
In this sense, a path has been undertaken in Canada to write a new page of the journey that the Church has long been making together with indigenous peoples. And in fact the motto of the trip “Walking together” explains this a little. A journey of reconciliation, of healing, which presupposes historical knowledge, listening to the survivors, awareness and above all conversion, a change of mentality. From this study it appears that, on the one hand, some men and women of the Church have been among the most decisive and courageous supporters of the dignity of the indigenous peoples, taking their defense and contributing to the knowledge of their languages and cultures; but, on the other hand, there has unfortunately been no shortage of Christians, that is, priests, men and women religious, lay people who have participated in the programs that today we understand that are unacceptable and also contrary to the Gospel. And for this reason I went to ask forgiveness on behalf of the Church.
It was therefore a penitential pilgrimage. There were many joyful moments, but the meaning and tone of the whole was reflection, repentance and reconciliation. Four months ago I received in the Vatican, in separate groups, the representatives of the original peoples: there were a total of six meetings, to prepare a little for this meeting.
The great stages of the pilgrimage were three: the first, in Edmonton, in the western part of the country. The second, in Quebec, in the eastern part. And the third in the north, in Iqaluit, 3000 km perhaps from the Arctic Circle.
The first meeting took place in Masqwacis, which means “bear hill”, where leaders and members of the main indigenous groups: First Nations, Métis and Inuit gathered from all over the country. Together we have made memory: the good memory of the millennial history of these peoples, in harmony with their land: this is one of the most beautiful things of the original peoples, harmony with the earth. They never mistreat creation, never. In harmony with the earth. And we also collected the painful memory of the abuses suffered, even in residential schools, due to the policies of cultural assimilation.
After remembrance, the second step of our journey was that of reconciliation. Not a compromise between us – it would be an illusion, a staging – but a letting ourselves be reconciled by Christ, who is our peace (cf. Eph 2:14). We did this with the figure of the tree as a reference, central to the life and symbolism of indigenous peoples.
Memory, reconciliation, and then healing.
We took this third step of the journey on the shores of Lake Sant’Anna, on the day of the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne. We can all draw from Christ, the source of living water, and there, in Jesus, we saw the closeness of the Father who gives us the healing of wounds and also the forgiveness of sins.
From this path of remembrance, reconciliation and healing springs hope for the Church, in Canada and everywhere. And there, the figure of the disciples of Emmaus, who after walking with the risen Jesus, with him and thanks to him passed from failure to hope (cf. Lk 24:13-35).
As I said at the beginning, the journey together with the indigenous peoples was the backbone of this apostolic journey. The two meetings with the local Church and with the Authorities of the country have been grafted on it, to which I wish to renew my sincere gratitude for the great availability and cordial welcome they have given to me and to my collaborators. And to the Bishops, the same. Before the Rulers, the Indigenous Leaders and the Diplomatic Corps, I reaffirmed the active will of the Holy See and the local Catholic communities to promote the original cultures, with appropriate spiritual paths and with attention to the customs and languages of the peoples.
At the same time, I noted how the colonizing mentality presents itself today under various forms of ideological colonizations which threaten the traditions, history and religious ties of peoples, flattening differences, focusing only on the present and often neglecting duties towards the weakest and most fragile.
It is therefore a question of recovering a healthy balance, recovering harmony, which is more than a balance, is another thing; recovering the harmony between modernity and ancestral cultures, between secularization and spiritual values.
And this directly challenges the mission of the Church, sent throughout the world to bear witness, to “sow” a universal fraternity that respects and promotes the local dimension with its many riches. I have already said, but I want to reiterate my thanks to the civil authorities, to the Governor-General, to the Prime Minister, to the local authorities of the places where I went: I thank you very much for the way in which they have facilitated the realization of the intentions and gestures that I have mentioned. And I wish to thank the Bishops above all for the unity of the episcopate: the realization of the aims of the Journey was possible because the Bishops were united, and where there is unity we can move forward. For this I would like to emphasize this and thank the Bishops of Canada for this unity.
And in the sign of hope it was the last meeting, in the land of the Inuit, with young and old. And I assure you that in these meetings, especially the last one, I had to feel the pain of those people like slaps: the elderly who lost their children and did not know where they had gone, because of this policy of assimilation. It was a very painful moment, but we had to put our face . . : we had to put our face in front of our mistakes, our sins. Also in Canada this is a key combination, young and old, it is a sign of the times: young and old in dialogue to walk together in history between memory and prophecy, who are in agreement.
May the fortitude and peaceful action of the indigenous peoples of Canada be an example for all the original peoples not to close themselves off, but to offer their indispensable contribution to a more fraternal humanity, which knows how to love creation and the Creator, in harmony with creation, in harmony among all of you.
