The Pope Franciscowho began his six-day trip to Canada today, assured during the flight that he is going with the “spirit” of making a “penitential trip” to apologize to the indigenous people for the abuses they suffered in boarding schools during the so-called assimilation processes.
A few minutes after the plane took off, Francisco, walking leaning on a cane, went to the back of the plane to greet the 78 journalists accompanying him and thanked them for their work and company during this trip to Edmonton, Quebec and Iqaluit, according to highlights the agency Eph.
dear #Grandparents and Seniors, we are called to be architects of the revolution of tenderness. Let’s do it, learning to use more and more and better the most valuable instrument we have: prayer. Our confident invocation can do a lot!
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex_es) July 23, 2022
“This is a penitential journey, we do it in this spirit,” said Francisco, who has given preference to meetings with indigenous people, while meetings with the authorities will not take place until Wednesday in Quebec.
Since today the Angelus prayer will not be celebrated in San Pedro, he took the opportunity to explain that this Sunday the Church celebrates the day dedicated to grandparents and urged young people to always approach them to know the roots, because “they are the ones who They pass on the traditions.
He also asked “not to hide” and give prominence to the religious elders because they are the ones who have “all the wisdom” and stressed the importance of the novices being able to be with them.
Despite his knee problems, the pope wanted to greet the journalists one by one and walked with the help of his cane through the aisles of the plane. When asked if he didn’t get too tired walking around the plane and it wouldn’t have been better if he sat down during the greetings, the Argentine pontiff replied that he could do it little by little.
The journalists asked him about the possible trip to Ukraine and Francisco assured that he would like to go and that he “will see”, but admitted “that the organization is complicated”.
Francisco, 85, will arrive in Edmonton at 11:40 a.m. local time (5:40 p.m. GMT) and will participate in a brief welcoming ceremony in which Governor Mary Simón and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be present, and then rest all day.
With information from Efe and Vatican News.
