For native Canadians, Pope Francis represents another step in the evolving relationship between the Church and indigenous people, said Chief Wilton Littlechild. Going back as far as Pope John Paul II’s 1984 visits to First Nations’ communities in Canada, through to Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 apology for the legacy of residential schools and then last year’s canonization of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, native people can see a positive trajectory in the relationship between the Vatican and native Canada, said Littlechild, one of three commissioners on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools.
“This is really a very important step in that journey, I think,” Littlechild told The Catholic Register.
“They’ve all been a series of steps that have been positive … an evolving relationship.”
For native people the Pope’s homily about our responsibility to be protectors of our heritage, creation and each other hits home, said Littlechild.
Personally, Littlechild has been touched by Francis’ choice of name and his simple style.
“I went to a Franciscan college in high school for three years. St. Francis of course has a very prominent role, but also an impact on my life personally,” he said.
It was a good day to be Canadian, said Catholic Women’s League president Betty Anne Brown Davidson.
For Davidson the Pope’s homily inspired animated and serious conversation with other women about their vocations, which she called “Our Jesus stories.”
“It was quite a surprise for me to be invited. I was not expecting it and I couldn’t even figure out on what basis I was chosen,” said Dominican Missionary Adorers prioress general Sr. Gilberte Baril. Baril was inspired by the simplicity of the liturgy and the directness of Pope Francis.
“Another thing that really struck me was how he insisted on doing it with gentleness, with generosity, with love, with tenderness,” she said.
For religious who live with vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the election of a Pope who also lives with the vows gives hope, she said.
“I hope it will be a factor in communion,” she said.
Women religious who dedicate themselves to helping others, fighting for justice and working for the poor will recognize their own charism in how Pope Francis has addressed himself to the world thus far, she said.
“Women religious in general, and in some special ways because of their charism, have this attitude of closeness to people,” Baril said.
Baril was happy to see that even Quebec’s National Assembly has recognized the importance of Pope Francis for all people. Deputy Premier Francois Gendron, who represented Quebec’s government at the inaugural Mass, told Quebec’s National Assembly that Pope Francis has “already given a special flavour to his reign, which is very similar to Quebec values.”
The Quebec legislature voted to send congratulations to the Holy See.
Back from Rome by the end of the week, Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute executive director Moira McQueen had thoughts and prayers still spinning in her head from the inaugural Mass.
“There was a tremendous excitement and I must say I shared in that,” she said.
The Mass felt familiar and personal, she said.
“I didn’t feel I was there for a spectacle. I was there as part of it.”
The fact that Pope Francis is from the Americas simply demonstrates an old truth about the Church, said McQueen.
“There’s something about Catholicism in any event that goes way beyond boundaries,” she said.
His experience of Latin America and his closeness to the poor will mark how Pope Francis leads the Church, said McQueen.
“He’s bringing all of us back to the main point of loving our neighbour.”