A date for a new papal statement on the Doctrine of Discovery, promised by Pope Francis on his way home from Canada to Rome, has not been announced. But whenever it happens it will address core concerns of Indigenous people in Canada and in many other parts of the world.

On Sept. 17, a virtual event will launch a new Canada-wide chapter of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP) Foundation, established in 1993 by St. John Paul II.

Canada’s bishops want to engage with a new National Council for Reconciliation that Ottawa lawmakers plan to set up this fall.

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.

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.

The Pope’s visit to Canada and apology to Indigenous peoples was a profound occasion for our country. His visit also raises important questions about the proper relationship between political and religious institutions. 

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.

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.

The full text of the homily Pope Francis delivered at the Mass celebrated at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, July 26, 2022.

The words “I am sorry” are powerful. For Tammy Ward of the Samson First Nation, those words from Pope Francis brought tears as she listened on the Maskawacis powwow grounds. 

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.

The moment of humility and contrition Pope Francis ushers in with his visit to Canada may seem an unpropitious time to remind ourselves how great we art.

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.

Teeing up the historic Papal Visit to Canada from July 24-29, Salt and Light Media Foundation unveiled a 59-minute documentary entitled Walking Together on July 17, chronicling the landmark meetings hosted at the Vatican between Pope Francis and representatives of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples in March and April.