Fire destroys St. Jean Baptiste parish in Morinville, June 30, 2021. / St. Jean Baptiste Catholic Church
Denver Newsroom, Aug 5, 2022 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
Catholics in Canada suffered the largest spike in religion-based hate crimes last year, and … […]
Pope Francis attends a closed-door meeting with Jesuits in Québec, Canada, July 29, 2022. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Aug 4, 2022 / 10:59 am (CNA).
Pope Francis told Jesuits in Canada about how his experience in Latin America formed his beli… […]
Reading a Catholic paper yesterday, I must say I was rather startled to see the pope charging the Catholic priests who taught in the elementary schools of Canada with genocide. Returning from his trip to […]
Pope Francis presides over a July 28 Mass at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Canada. / Vatican Media
St. Louis, Mo., Jul 28, 2022 / 15:34 pm (CNA).
At a July 28 Mass in the historic Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Québec, Pope F… […]
Pope Francis meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Québec, Canada, on July 27, 2022. / pool VAMP
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 27, 2022 / 17:04 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the harm done to indigenous Canadians by Cat… […]
Pope Francis meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Vatican on May 29, 2017. / © L’Osservatore Romano.
Denver Newsroom, Jul 27, 2022 / 16:28 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this afternoon, July 27, in Quebec City, as part of his weeklong “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada.
Today’s encounter wasn’t Pope Francis’ first meeting with Trudeau; the Prime Minister welcomed the pope when he arrived at Edmonton International Airport on Sunday. And Trudeau and Pope Francis have had one face-to-face meeting before, at the Vatican in 2017.
In their 36-minute 2017 meeting, which the Vatican described as “cordial,” the pope gave Trudeau a medallion symbolizing forgiveness, joy, and mutual acceptance. The medallion also references Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
During that meeting, their conversation focused on religious freedom as well as reconciliation with native people of Canada. Trudeau at that time reiterated his open invitation to the pope to come to Canada and for “reconciliation” with the indigenous communities.
That trip to Canada has now come to fruition and has included a public apology from Pope Francis for the Catholic Church’s role in running much of Canada’s government-sponsored residential school system. During more than a century of operation, the system worked to stamp out aspects of native culture, language, and religious practice. Former students at the schools have described mistreatment and even abuse within their walls, along with broad criticisms of the quality of education they received, psychological damage, and other problems such as malnutrition and unsanitary conditions.
The meeting between the two leaders in 2017 was not Trudeau’s first visit to the Vatican. A Catholic, he met St. John Paul II in 1980 during the meeting of his father, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, with the pope.
Trudeau has been criticized during his tenure as prime minister for pushing policies that are at odds with his Catholic faith, including strongly pushing for the continuation of legal abortion in Canada, as well as assisted suicide.
Pope Francis blesses the crowds at Ste. Anne Shrine at Lac Ste. Anne in Alberta, Canada. / Vatican Media
St. Louis, Mo., Jul 26, 2022 / 18:45 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis concluded his second full day in Canada with a visit to Lac Ste. Anne, the site… […]
Pope Francis celebrates Mass from the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, on July 26, 2022. / Vatican Media
Denver Newsroom, Jul 26, 2022 / 14:24 pm (CNA).
Preaching at a Mass celebrated in Canada’s largest stadium, Pope Francis reflecte… […]
Pope Francis started his Canada trip by visiting the cemetery and chapel of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Maskwacis, Alberta, on July 25, 2022. / Vatican Media
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 26, 2022 / 10:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis is visiting Ca… […]
A teddy bear sits beside a lantern outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School where flowers and cards have been left as part of a growing makeshift memorial created in response to media reports that the "remains" of 215 chil… […]
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