Francis will visit Quebec City, Iqaluit and Edmonton between July 24 and 29, adding the weight of his office to Canadian Catholic efforts to reconcile with Indigenous Canadians and to repair the damage done by Catholic-run residential schools.

Whether or not Pope Francis will visit one of the sites where ground-penetrating radar has revealed possible graves of former residential school students is still not known, as some Indigenous leaders continue to lobby for the Pope to visit these forgotten cemeteries that touched off a national conversation about residential schools last year.

The Red River Metis went to Rome looking for the restoration of their communities, their culture and their churches.

A new bursary is helping to defray the cost of post-secondary education for Indigenous students within the Toronto Catholic District School Board.

The head of the Manitoba Métis Federation said his group's meeting with Pope Francis was an emotional encounter centered on reconciliation between the Indigenous community and the Catholic Church.

Alberta Métis fiddler Alex Kusturok says the opportunity to play before Pope Francis during the recent Indigenous meetings in Rome was not only an amazing experience for him, but he’s looking forward to telling his newborn son about it one day. 

At this pivotal moment in Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples, author and educator Kevin Lamoureux is encouraging those in the Church working to move beyond feelings of guilt to be part of the solution.

Two mercifully flown decades ago, Mr. Dan Brown foisted on the world from some printing presses the Luddites sadly missed smashing, a purported novel called The Da Vinci Code.

At the conclusion of the Lenten journey of Indigenous representatives to the Vatican, Pope Francis gave the delegation a laetare moment, a time to rejoice. The Pope’s poignant apology for the harm “members of the Catholic Church” did to Indigenous children in residential schools and his promise to visit Canada this summer is a major step toward healing a broken relationship.

Never was a single sentence more longed for. In 40 years since survivors began to speak out, 16 years since the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement and seven years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada delivered its final report, nations and peoples have waited for a Pope to speak.

Neither truth nor reconciliation is served by claims that cannot be reconciled with what is known to be true.

Hard truths and deep prayer marked the Metis delegation’s hour with Pope Francis, said bishops who were in the room when nine Metis elders and residential school survivors spoke with the Pope.

After being greeted individually at the door of the papal library by Pope Francis, Inuit delegates proceeded to light the qulliq they had brought with them — a soapstone lantern that burns blubber, and a symbol of warmth and life in Inuit culture.

Led by two fiddlers playing the Red River Jig to the amazement of tourists, Metis delegates skirted past St. Peter’s Square on their way out from an hour-long meeting with Pope Francis before meeting the assembled press from Rome and Canada.

Rome is not just another city. It’s not even an Italian city. It belongs to the world and to God at one and the same time.