Beyond the pomp and ceremony, what should we be asking of the Catholic Church?
Critical attention will be directed away from Church operations and decisions and onto the survivors of residential schools, posing an old but effective deflection: What do Indigenous Peoples really want? Photo by Nacho Arteaga/Unsplash
Pope Francis is in Canada this week to meet with Indigenous Peoples. That’s the big news dominating Canadian and international headlines.
There are slim hopes that the Pope might renounce a couple of centuries-old papal bulls, the foundation for colonization and slavery. But don’t hold your breath.
The big question was whether Pope Francis would repeat an apology made this spring to the Inuit, Métis and First Nations children who survived abuses at the hands of priests and nuns at Canada’s residential schools.