Archbishop Richard Gagnon (left) says truth and justice are both needed for reconciliation. (Diocese of Winnipeg/Facebook)
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As Indigenous and Catholic leaders prepare for a possible fall meeting with the Pope, an Archbishop says reconciliation conversations continue to be a priority.
Archbishop Richard Gagnon of the Winnipeg Diocese and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops says that a long-anticipated trip to the Vatican could come to fruition this fall. This is a delegation of Elders, Residential School Survivors, youths, and some leaders who will go there accompanying them. It is not a political reality, it is a pastoral reality, in which these individuals from the various Indigenous components in Canada would have the opportunity to sit down with the Pope separately, Gagnon says.
The discovery of the unmarked graves of First Nations' children led to renewed calls for a papal apology in Canada to respond to the legacy of residential schools and revived questions about the church’s role in colonialism in Canada.
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EDMONTON When Pope Francis stood overlooking St. Peter’s Square Sunday, he expressed his pain over the remains of 215 Indigenous students found at the site of a church-run residential school in Kamloops, B.C. I join with the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the Canadian people traumatized by the shocking news, Francis said, acknowledging the “sad discovery” adds to the sorrow and suffering of the past. Yet while he pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on the issue, his remarks fell short of the official apology Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian Indigenous leaders, and Catholics alike have long called for.