Whether Pope Francis proves correct that the Indian residential school system constituted “genocide,” he erred three times during the concluding media conference for his otherwise near-flawless penitential pilgrimage across Canada.

Standing out from the final day of Pope Francis’ penitential pilgrimage to foster reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples was his remarks to Inuit youth in Iqaluit.

It was genocide, plain and simple.

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.

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.

The full text of the speach given by Pope Francis at Citadelle de Quebec July 27, 2022.

Like generations of pilgrims before him, Pope Francis came to the water’s edge at Lac Ste. Anne seeking healing — not his healing, ours.

The full text of Pope Francis' homily given at the Lac Ste. Anne pilgrimage July 26, 2022.

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' 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.