Pope Francis waves to the crowd, making his way to the Plains of Abraham during his Papal visit in Québec City on July 27, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Visiting Indigenous people on their land was a step in the right direction, but the pope’s visit was full of tensions over both what was said and what wasn’t.
Drawing of St. Peter’s cathedral, Rome, with the Vatican wall in the left distance, c. 1640.
(The Trustees of the British Museum)
Residential schools and the papal bulls justifying the doctrine of discovery call out for concrete acts of atonement and reparation on the part of the church.
A key question we should be asking during his upcoming visit is: How will an apology contribute to healing, or will it just deepen distrust in the church?
(AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, file)
Pope Francis and the Catholic Church must make a plan with Indigenous Peoples, not for us, in order to walk the path of reconciliation. Some initial suggestions of what a plan might include.
Gerald Antoine, Northwest Territories regional chief and Assembly of First Nations lead delegate to Rome, is flanked by Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, left, and Cassidy Caron, Métis National Council president, in St.Peter’s Square in Rome, after their meeting with Pope Francis on April 1.
(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
As a theologian who studies church apologies for historical wrongs, I understand why the Pope was moved to speak this week, but I hope this was not his definitive apology.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with Pope Francis for a private audience at the Vatican in May 2017.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
It is worth considering whether efforts to enlist the church in reconciliation have been helped or hindered by how settlers think about early written records.
Pope Francis incenses the altar as he celebrates Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, in November 2020.
(Vincenzo Pinto/Pool via AP)
A papal apology, if done in ‘a good way,’ could help remove barriers to transforming harmful relationships between Indigenous Peoples and the Catholic Church.