EDMONTON, July 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Pope Francis on Tuesday delivered an open-air mass before tens of thousands of people thronging a stadium in western Canada, a day after making a landmark apology for the abuse of Indigenous children at Catholic-run schools.
The 85-year-old pontiff waved and smiled as he made his way in the popemobile through the venue in Edmonton, in the province of Alberta, pausing several times to kiss babies handed up to him through the crowds.
Pope Francis then delivered his homily in Spanish, in one of the largest open-air events of his visit, praying for a “future in which the history of violence and marginalisation suffered by our Indigenous brothers and sisters is never repeated”.
Security was tight as people took their seats under sunny skies ahead of the service. Officials said about 50,000 people attended.
Traditional music filled the air, while Indigenous people in the crowd were recognisable by their orange shirts – intended to symbolise the failed policy of forced assimilation they endured in the country’s infamous residential schools.
Some held a banner reading “Every child matters”, while others wore traditional headdresses. Pope Francis himself wore a garment that officials said had been inspired by Indigenous art.
In the first major address of his visit on Monday, to a gathering of Indigenous people in the community of Maskwacis, south of Edmonton, Pope Francis offered a long-awaited apology to Canada’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit people for the “evil” inflicted on them for decades.
“I am sorry,” he said, citing the “cultural destruction” and the “physical, verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse” of children over nearly a century at the schools.
After Tuesday’s mass, the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics is expected to continue what he has described as a “penitential” journey, travelling to Lac Ste Anne, about 80 kilometres west of Edmonton, for a liturgical celebration at one of North America’s most important pilgrimage sites.
Every year since the end of the 19th century, thousands of pilgrims mainly from Canada and the United States have come to bathe and pray in the healing waters, according to Indigenous rites.
Following a July 27-29 visit to Quebec City, Pope Francis – who often uses a wheelchair due to knee pain – will end his trip in Iqaluit, capital of the northern territory of Nunavut and home to the largest Inuit population in Canada.
There he will meet again with former residential school students, before returning to Italy. — NNN-AGENCIES
