This week, our magazine Penance and Progress that commemorates and explores Pope Francis’ penitential pilgrimage to Canada is off the press.

When Ukrainians first began arriving in Canada, 131 years ago, they weren’t recognized for who they were, instead being called “Ruthenians” or by regional terms like “Galicians” or “Bukovynians.” Lured with promises of freedom and free land, they were not always appreciated.

The world may have to hold its breath a few weeks longer for the successful launch of NASA’s Artemis I moon mission, originally scheduled to occur in late August and then early September.

Whatever else the Holy Father’s summer visit to Canada produced, hard data show he created fertile ground on which the process of Indigenous-non Indigenous reconciliation can ably proceed.

State of distortion

The Catholic Register’s Aug. 21 editorial explains how euphemistically named Medical Aid in Dying is rapidly expanding in Canada.

Ethiopians, especially poor families in the war-devastated parts of the northern Tigray region, have been experiencing immense suffering from a conflict that remains largely unknown to Canadians. War started in the Tigray region in November 2020 between the Ethiopian National Defence Forces and the Tigray Defence Forces, and the conflict continues to this day.

Pope Francis has fulfilled his mission in Canada. He has apologized in Canada “to survivors, their families and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit and Metis children in Catholic-run residential schools.” That was Call to Action 58 in the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Pope did not come here within one year of the report’s release, as the call to action specifies, but he did get here, apologized sincerely several times and met with groups of survivors from the schools.

How would you describe the effect of Pope Francis’ July visit to Canada on your faith? We have waited in anticipation over the past few months for Pope Francis to make his “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada this summer. The Pope decided to prioritize his ministry of caring for those who have been hurt by the Church. He chose to “set his face to go to” (Luke 9: 51) Canada “in the name of Jesus to meet and embrace the Indigenous Peoples.” 

Anti-religious violence doesn’t come out of the blue. Before it explodes, the seeds of mistrust are planted and well-tended.

We need that meeting between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis. It’s a shame the Russian Orthodox Patriarch has backed out at the last minute.