Pope Francis calls on Indigenous youth to shine brightly
As Pope Francis concluded his intensive five-day pilgrimage of reconciliation on Canadian soil, he spoke directly to Inuit youth in Iqaluit and offered them three pieces of advice: keep walking upwards, come to the light each day and be part of a team.
On the final day of Pope Francis’ pilgrimage of penance, one of healing and reconciliation, he says it is he who has been “enriched” by the experience.
If Canadian Catholics were looking for a roadmap to reconciliation, Pope Francis laid it out for them at a vespers prayer service in Quebec City’s exquisite Notre Dame Basilica Cathedral on a rainy Thursday evening.
A journey from failure to hope
The full text of the homily delivered by Pope Francis at Mass at the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec July 28, 2022.
In the face of sin and failure, the temptation to wallow in despair and do nothing comes from the devil, Pope Francis said.
Maple Leaf a sign of open and inclusive communities
Pope Francis comes as a pilgrim to Lac Ste. Anne
Like generations of pilgrims before him, Pope Francis came to the water’s edge at Lac Ste. Anne seeking healing — not his healing, ours.
We all need the healing of Jesus
At a Mass celebrating the feast of Jesus’ grandparents, Pope Francis urged those filling Edmonton’s Commonwealth to ground their understanding of history in the reality of those to whom they owed life itself.
The full text of the homily Pope Francis delivered at the Mass celebrated at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, July 26, 2022.
When busloads of residential school survivors, elders, knowledge keepers and youth descend on Edmonton and Quebec City to be present as Pope Francis walks on his “penitential pilgrimage,” Cynthia Bunn will be among them. But she didn’t want to be.
Pope Francis' words in Canada may have broader reach
Pope Francis' July trip to Canada was born out of his meetings with the nations' Indigenous people and was planned around encounters with them, and if the pope's words "have value elsewhere," like throughout the Americas, all the better, said the director of the Vatican press office.
Full healing requires extending forgiveness
Hopes are high Pope Francis’ visit to Canada will bring about the reconciliation that leads to healing and restoration for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike. The Pontiff’s visit follows on the heels of his meeting with an Indigenous delegation in the Vatican at the end of March.
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.
Ex-pats critical of Pope Francis' silence on Cuba
Edmonton-based Cuban Catholics Eickerman Campos and Yanet Rodriguez Herrero said the people of their birth country and fellow emigrants residing in a new homeland are feeling largely disregarded by the global community a year after protests raged in Cuba against the communist authorities.