VATICAN CITY - Trusting in God's infinite mercy, people should not be afraid or embarrassed to go to confession, Pope Francis said.

"There are people who are afraid to go to confession, forgetting that they will not encounter a severe judge there, but the immensely merciful Father," Pope Francis told thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square Aug. 2 for the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer.

Among the action calls from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report on residential schools is an insistence that Pope Francis apologize in person to Canada’s aboriginal peoples.

The churches and religious orders who ran Indian Residential Schools up until the 1970s have responded to the final 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with a promise to do more.

The truth has been well and tragically documented. Now comes the real work — reconciliation.

Catholic schools are ready for reconciliation, ready to equip the next generation with an honest history of Canada, but there’s work to be done.

TORONTO - Close to 500 people, equal numbers of native and non-native Canadians, walked through a cold, constant rain in Toronto to urge reconciliation on Canada’s largest city.

WASHINGTON - Although the upcoming canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra has stirred mixed reaction, a group of panelists said the ambiguities around the friar should not discount the good work he did or the positive dialogue and reconciliation that could result from his sainthood.

VATICAN CITY - Mercy is at the heart of the Church's credibility and the Church has a duty to profess it and live it, Pope Francis said in a document that officially proclaims the 2015-2016 extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy.

OTTAWA - Parliamentarians marked the first John Paul II Day a day early April 1, recalling the late pope’s legacy as a defender of human dignity against oppression.

Guelph and Area Right to Life has begun a crowdfunding campaign to help build a place of healing and remembrance for parents who have lost a child in the pre-born and early stages of life.

ROME - Lent is a journey of purification and penance, a movement that should bring one tearfully back to the loving arms of the merciful Father, Pope Francis said at an Ash Wednesday Mass that began with a procession on Rome's Aventine Hill.

Pope Francis made an apostolic visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines Jan. 13-19, 2015. The Sri Lanka highlight was the canonization of St. Joseph Vaz. In the Philippines, the Pope celebrated Mass with six million people in Manilla. All the articles from his trip are listed below, including some Canadian reaction written by Register reporters Michael Swan and Evan Boudreau.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Pope Francis told Sri Lankans seeking reconciliation after two-and-a-half decades of civil war that, before they can forgive each other, they must repent of their own sins.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Arriving in Sri Lanka, a country recovering from two-and-a-half decades of ethnic and religious civil war, Pope Francis said reconciliation would require its people to explore their painful recent history and accept persistent differences within their multicultural society.

VATICAN CITY - Highlighting some of the most urgent conflicts facing the world, Pope Francis said such strife and injustices were rooted in a culture of rejection that refuses to recognize God, to protect nature and to respect other human beings.