VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis on Sunday asked for prayers to accompany him on what he called his “penitential” pilgrimage to Canada to apologize to Indigenous groups for abuses inflicted by the Catholic church.
Greeting the public in St. Peter’s Square, Francis noted that on July 24, “God willing,” he will begin a seven-day trip to Canada.
“Dear brothers and sisters of Canada, as you know I will come among you above all in the name of Jesus to meet and embrace the Indigenous populations,” Francis said.
“Unfortunately, in Canada, many Christians, including some members of religious institutions, contributed to the policies of cultural assimilation, that, in the past, gravely damaged, in various ways, the Native communities,” the pope said, speaking from a studio window of the Apostolic Palace facing the square.
“For this reason, recently, at the Vatican, I received several groups, representatives of Indigenous peoples, to whom I manifested by sorrow and my solidarity for the evil they have suffered,” Francis said.