The moment of humility and contrition Pope Francis ushers in with his visit to Canada may seem an unpropitious time to remind ourselves how great we art.

It’s 20 years to the (give or take) day since Pope John Paul II visited Canada, and Canada is once again graced with another papal visit.

Asking for prayers ahead of his visit to Canada July 24-29, Pope Francis described the trip as a "penitential pilgrimage" as part of a commitment to healing and reconciliation with the country's Indigenous people.

When Pope Francis travels to Canada to apologize to Indigenous communities for the way the Catholic Church joined efforts to uproot them from their traditional culture and spirituality, their traditions will be on full display.

Scalpers have pounced on the potential of Pope Francis’ visit to Canada, but at least one ticket reseller has just said no.

Dennis Girard hopes the Marian Devotional Movement’s prayerful Papal Visit Pilgrim Statue Procession — and a 54-day Novena launched May 31 —  will bless Pope Francis’ mission of healing and reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

If Pope Francis is going to broaden or deepen the apology he offered April 1 in Rome, then it’s going to happen at Maskwacis, 70 kilometres south of Edmonton, site of one of the largest Indian residential schools in Canada.

A First Nations group of residential school survivors has publicly put forward specific wording for a papal apology widely expected in Canada in July.  

Novalis is composing a digital edition of Living With Christ in time for Pope Francis’ July 24-29 trip to Canada. 

Pope Francis’ commitment to Indigenous people to visit Canada “where I will be able better to express to you my closeness” now has the concrete form of an official itinerary.

A delay in Pope Francis’ travel plans for South Sudan and Congo because of continuing problems with the Pope’s knee is not slowing down the planning process for his apostolic journey to Canada July 24 to 29.

Surely no Canadian is so naïve as to believe that Pope Francis’ six-day July visit will miraculously heal nearly 400 years of fraught, often deeply unjust relations, with Indigenous people.

For six days in July the most important thing happening in this country will be an old man confronting our history.

Pope Francis will visit a residential school and will very likely be seen on the shores of Lac Ste. Anne during the annual pilgrimage to Manitou Sakahigan – Cree for “Lake of the Spirit.”

Francis will visit Quebec City, Iqaluit and Edmonton between July 24 and 29, adding the weight of his office to Canadian Catholic efforts to reconcile with Indigenous Canadians and to repair the damage done by Catholic-run residential schools.