Pope Francis’s visit to Canada will go ahead despite ongoing health issues

Pope Francis will journey to Canada as deliberate subsequent month, the Vatican stated Thursday, confirming the long-planned journey will go forward regardless that the Roman Catholic non secular chief is coping with some well being points.

The Pope, who can be in Canada from July 24 to 29 with stops in Edmonton, Quebec Metropolis and Iqaluit, is coming right here to apologize in particular person for the abuse suffered by Indigenous individuals by the hands of the Catholic Church.

“We all know that the Holy Father was deeply moved by his encounter with Indigenous Peoples in Rome earlier this 12 months, and that he hopes to construct on the essential dialogue that befell,” Archbishop Richard Smith, an organizer of the Pope’s go to to Canada, stated in an announcement.

“We pray this pilgrimage will function one other significant step within the lengthy journey of therapeutic, reconciliation and hope,” Smith stated.

Based on an itinerary launched by the Canadian Convention of Catholic Bishops, the Pope will begin the go to in Edmonton with a quick ceremony on the airport earlier than calling it a day to get some relaxation after an extended flight from Europe. The subsequent day, on July 25, he’ll meet with survivors on the Ermineskin Indian Residential Faculty in the neighborhood of Maskwacis, south of town.

Later that day, Francis is scheduled to go to Sacred Coronary heart Church of the First Peoples, an Indigenous church within the metropolis’s downtown core — a church that was not too long ago restored after a devastating hearth in 2020.

On July 26, the Pope will have fun an open-air mass on the metropolis’s 56,000-seat Commonwealth Stadium, an occasion that can be open to the general public. The Canadian bishops stated the service will incorporate Indigenous traditions as a part of the gathering.

He’ll then journey to Lac Ste. Anne, Alta., a pilgrimage web site the place, for greater than a century, First Nations and Métis Catholics have travelled to have fun the Feast of Saint Anne, who is alleged to be the mom of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus.

The subsequent cease is Quebec Metropolis, the place the Pope will meet with the prime minister and the Governor Basic at La Citadelle after which ship a public deal with.

On July 28, he’ll preside over a mass on the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, a nationwide shrine, the place some 10,000 to fifteen,000 friends are anticipated to attend. Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is one of many oldest and hottest pilgrimage websites in North America, commonly drawing tons of of 1000’s of tourists every year to a spot the place quite a few miracles are stated to have occurred.

Later that day, he’ll take part in a night prayer service with bishops, monks, deacons and seminarians on the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral.

The Canadian bishops stated the general public will be capable of take part within the Quebec occasions as there can be a devoted space on the Plains of Abraham on July 27 and 28 the place individuals can witness “Indigenous cultural expression” and watch papal occasions within the province on massive screens.

On July 29, the Pope will meet with a delegation of Indigenous individuals from japanese Canada earlier than heading north to Iqaluit.

Whereas in Nunavut, the Pope will take part in a personal assembly with residential faculty survivors and host a delegation of younger individuals and elders at an area main faculty earlier than heading again to Rome.

Journey to Africa cancelled

There was concern in some circles that the Pope would cancel the Canadian go to after the Vatican pulled the plug on one other certainly one of his journeys overseas — a multi-day tour of Africa that was scheduled for early July.

Vatican officers stated the Pope needed to pull again from the deliberate journey to the Republic of Congo and South Sudan “on the request of his medical doctors” in order to not “jeopardize the outcomes of the remedy that he’s present process for his knee.”

Due to the continuing well being points — the Pope has not too long ago been seen in a wheelchair attributable to mobility considerations — the Canadian bishops stated it’s anticipated that the Pope’s participation in public occasions can be “restricted to roughly one hour.”