pope visit canada

Pope Francis in Canada

Walking together, july 24 – 29, 2022, consult the archives, healing and reconciliation: an historic journey.

Pope Francis made a pastoral visit to Canada from July 24 to 29, 2022. The Pope’s visit provided a unique opportunity for him, once again, to listen and dialogue with Indigenous Peoples, to express his heartfelt closeness and to address the impact of colonization and the participation of the Catholic Church in the operation of residential schools throughout Canada. The papal visit also provided an opportunity for the shepherd of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics to connect with the Catholic community in Canada.

The Catholic Church has a responsibility to take genuine and meaningful steps to journey with Indigenous Peoples of this land on the lengthy path to healing and reconciliation. This site provides information on the historic journey of Pope Francis to Canada, a significant step on the road to truth, understanding and healing. We invite you to join us as we reflect, pray and welcomed the Holy Father for these special days among us.

“…I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon.”

– Pope Francis – April 1, 2022

The visit, drawing on the theme of “Walking Together”, included a combination of public and private events, with an emphasis on Indigenous participation throughout the visit.

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The Papal Visit to Canada secretariat has been created by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the national assembly of the Bishops of Canada. It was founded in 1943 and officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. The Papal Visit team is working closely with numerous partners including the Vatican, Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers and survivors of residential schools along with government officials at the federal, provincial and municipal levels as we prepare for this historic visit.

Archival Footage

Papal visit keepsakes.

Papal Visit in Canada c/o Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops 2500 Don Reid Drive, Ottawa (ON) K1H 2J2 Canada

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Pope Francis’ Canada visit: Read live updates here

By CNA Staff , Katie Yoder

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 29, 2022 / 07:45 am

Pope Francis is visiting Canada in what he has called a “penitential pilgrimage” from July 24 to July 29.

Read the latest updates about his trip below.

July 30, 5:53 a.m.: Full text: Pope Francis’ in-flight press conference from Canada

Pope Francis returned to Rome on Saturday after a week-long trip to Canada. During his trip, the pope visited Edmonton, Québec, and Iqaluit on what he called a “penitential pilgrimage” to apologize to the country’s indigenous communities.

Please read here for CNA’s full transcript of Pope Francis’ press conference on the flight from Iqaluit, Canada, to Italy.

July 30, 5:09 a.m.: Pope Francis: Canada's residential schools system was 'cultural genocide'

Speaking to journalists on the papal plane on July 30, the pope explained that he had not used the term “genocide” during his public apologies for past abuses perpetrated by Catholics in the system because it had not come to mind.

You can read more here .

July 29, 9:17 p.m.

📹HIGHLIGHTS | Pope Francis finished his trip to Canada by visiting Iqaluit, at the edge of the Arctic, where no plant grows taller than 8 inches. As a final wrap-up to his pilgrimage, he met with young people and elders. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/2hQP8h7Vmm — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 30, 2022

July 29, 7:55 p.m.: Choose light over darkness, Pope Francis tells young people in Iqaluit

Pope Francis on Friday encouraged indigenous young people and elders in Iqaluit in northern Canada not to be disheartened but to seek out what is good.

“You will come to realize that Jesus, from the cross, never points his finger at you; he embraces you and encourages you, because he believes in you even at those times when you stop believing in yourself. So never lose hope, fight, give it your all, and you will not be sorry.”

July 29, 6:40 p.m.: Pope Francis gifts his ‘dearest friend’ to Canada

As Pope Francis concludes his visit to Canada, he is leaving behind his “dearest friend”: St. Joseph.

Before traveling to Iqaluit on Friday, the 85-year-old pontiff gifted a statue of St. Joseph and the Child Jesus to the archbishop’s residence in Québec City, according to the Holy See Press Office. He presented an identical statue of Jesus’ foster father to St. Joseph Seminary, which hosted him at the start of his trip in Edmonton, Alberta.

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“I am leaving you my dearest friend,” he told the institute, Vatican News shared.

July 29, 5:00 p.m.

Pope Francis meets with youth and elders before attending a farewell ceremony in Iqaluit, the capital and only city of Nunavut, Canada’s northernmost and most sparsely populated territory. Catholics can watch live below.

July 29, 1:22 p.m.: Pope Francis praises Canada’s indigenous people as he departs Québec

In a brief address Friday to delegates representing nine indigenous nations of Canada, Pope Francis said he is returning home “greatly enriched” after his weeklong “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada, during which he publicly apologized several times for past abuses perpetrated by Catholics against the nation’s indigenous.

(Story continues below)

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“​​I have come as a brother, to discover firsthand the good and bad fruit borne by members of the local Catholic family in the course of the years. I have come in a spirit of penance, to express my heartfelt pain at the wrong inflicted on you by not a few Catholics who supported oppressive and unjust policies in your regard,” the 85-year-old pope said, addressing the group gathered at the archbishop’s residence in Québec City.

July 29, 1:00 p.m.

While in the air, Pope Francis remembers Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. Tekakwitha, also known as the “Lily of the Mohawks,” became the first Native American saint in 2012. She was raised in New York, by her uncle, a Mohawk chief, after her parents died from a smallpox epidemic. After encountering Jesuit priests in her village, she converted to Catholicism at 19. Her relatives and the village attempted to punish her for her beliefs. She later ran away to Montreal, Canada, where she could practice her faith and live out her life as a consecrated virgin.

My thoughts and prayers in these days have focused often on Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. We venerate her for her devotion to prayer and work, and her ability to endure many trials patiently and meekly. #IndigenousPeoples — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 29, 2022

July 29, 11:47 a.m.

The papal flight prepares to depart Québec for Iqaluit. You can read more about Iqaluit and why Pope Francis is traveling there here .

July 29, 10:30 a.m.

Pope Francis meets with a delegation of indigenous peoples in Québec. Catholics can watch him speak live below.

July 29, 9:45 a.m.

Pope Francis attended a closed-door meeting with Jesuits in Québec this morning.

July 29, 7:19 a.m.

Today marks the last day of Pope Francis' visit to Canada. He will be meeting with members of the Society of Jesus and a delegation of indigenous peoples in Québec. From there, he will fly to Iqaluit, where he will meet with students of former residential schools, young people and elders, and attend a farewell ceremony.

You can read more about Iqaluit and why Pope Francis is traveling there here .

Pope Francis’ Events Schedule for #29July2022 #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogheter @papal_visit pic.twitter.com/MeHHwbIK2D — Holy See Press Office (@HolySeePress) July 29, 2022

July 28, 8:54 p.m.

📹VIDEO | Pope Francis was greeted by cheers during his visit to Quebec. He was also able to get out of his vehicle by his own means before using his wheelchair. Let's keep praying for his health and the fruits of his trip. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/DPRaAjx4Jf — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 29, 2022

July 28, 6:23 p.m. : Pope Francis: Complaining that the world is evil is ‘not Christian’

Speaking Thursday to a group of priests, bishops, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians, and pastoral workers at the Cathedral Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec, Pope Francis urged those present to model Christian joy and fraternity to those to whom they minister. 

“Christian joy is about the experience of a peace that remains in our hearts, even when we are pelted by trials and afflictions, for then we know that we are not alone, but accompanied by a God who is not indifferent to our lot. When seas are rough: The storm is always on the surface but the depths remain calm and peaceful. That is also true of Christian joy: It is a free gift, the certainty of knowing that we are loved, sustained and embraced by Christ in every situation in life,” the pope said in his homily as part of a Vespers service at the cathedral. 

July 28, 5:50 p.m. : Pope Francis’ Canada trip: What is Iqaluit and why is he going there?

Pope Francis is set to fly to Iqaluit, Canada, on Friday, July 29. The city marks the last stop of the 85-year-old pontiff’s “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada before he heads back to Rome.

At the final stop of his trip to Canada, the pontiff will meet with Inuit residential school survivors and will visit Nakasuk Elementary School.

Here is what to know about Iqaluit, its lone Catholic parish, and the significance of the pope’s visit.

July 28, 5:34 p.m.: Pope Francis: Jesus comes to us when we are at our lowest

At a July 28 Mass in the historic Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Québec, Pope Francis preached on the hope and redemption that Christ offers in the face of shame, and how God seeks to draw near to us in moments of failure.

“On the path of life and faith, as we seek to achieve the dreams, plans, hopes and expectations deep in our hearts, we also come up against our own frailties and weaknesses; we experience setbacks and disappointments, and often we can remain imprisoned by a paralyzing sense of failure. Yet the Gospel tells us that at those very moments we are not alone, for the Lord comes to meet us and stands at our side,” the pope said, preaching in his native Spanish.

📹 HIGHLIGHTS | Pope Francis presided over the Holy Mass at the National Shrine of Saint Anne de Beaupre in Quebec. St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus, was proclaimed patroness of Québec in 1876. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/hnd1UrgcDv — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 28, 2022

July 28, 5:20 p.m.

Pope Francis delivers a homily during evening prayer from the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Québec, Canada. Catholics can watch live below.

July 28, 5:00 p.m.

Catholics can watch evening prayer with Pope Francis from the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Québec, Canada, live below.

Pope Francis will pray Vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians, and pastoral workers at the cathedral.

July 28, 3:00 p.m.

Whenever our failures lead to an encounter with the Lord, life and hope are reborn and we are able to be reconciled: with ourselves, with our brothers and sisters, and with God. #ApostolicJourney #Canada — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 28, 2022

July 28, 12:50 p.m.

Following Mass at the National Shrine of Saint Anne de Beaupré in Québec, Pope Francis met with the guests of the Fraternité Saint Alphonse welcome and spirituality center.

He was welcomed in the center's garden by permanent guests and by those who habitually frequent the center — in total, about 50 people including the elderly, people suffering from various addictions, and HIV/AIDS patients. The director in charge, Father André Morency, was also present. The pope greeted them, listened to their stories, and collected their prayers.

Before leaving, he gifted them with an icon of the "Most Holy Lady of Jerusalem."

Pope Francis shared a special moment with a guest of the Fraternité St Alphonse reception and spirituality center in Quebec. There are about 50 people at the center. Among them are the elderly and people suffering from addictions. #PopeInCanada #walkingtogether 📷 Vatican Media pic.twitter.com/kW0mcTrSsl — Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) July 28, 2022

July 28, 12:02 p.m.

This morning Pope Francis presided over Mass at the Sanctuary of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec. #PopeInCanada #WalkingTogether 📷 Vatican Media pic.twitter.com/sVwHiq52dn — Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) July 28, 2022

July 28, 9:30 a.m.

Catholics can watch Holy Mass in Québec with Pope Francis from the National Shrine of Saint Anne de Beaupré, the oldest pilgrimage site in North America, live below. The shrine houses three relics of St. Anne.

Local authorities estimate that 2,000 people are at the shrine today.

July 28, 9:25 a.m.

Pope Francis is arriving at St. Anne de Beaupré in Québec to celebrate Mass. Originally built in the 17th century to welcome a miraculous statue of the saint, it marks the most ancient shrine in North America. According to tradition, one of the first builders of the church suffered from a severe scoliosis and was healed. St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus Christ, was proclaimed patroness of Québec in 1876. Pope Francis has centered much of his trip on this saint.

July 28, 6:52 a.m.: A look beyond the headlines: Pope Francis encounters Catholic life and history on his journey to Canada

The images of Pope Francis receiving a feathered headdress by indigenous Canadians, the many moving moments and significant gestures on this papal trip have made headlines around the world. This “penitential pilgrimage”, dedicated to a real path of reconciliation with the Native American populations, is also an Apostolic journey to a country with a rich and varied Catholic history.

July 27, 7:00 p.m.: Pope Francis expresses ‘deep shame’ in Canada, warns of new ‘cancel culture’

Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the harm done to indigenous Canadians by Catholics in a Wednesday address before top government officials and representatives of the indigenous peoples in Canada.

“I express my deep shame and sorrow, and, together with the bishops of this country, I renew my request for forgiveness for the wrong done by so many Christians to the indigenous peoples,” the 85-year-old pontiff said, citing the Catholic Church’s role in running many of the country’s government-sponsored residential schools for indigenous children.

July 27, 6:28 p.m.: Did Pope Francis meet Justin Trudeau before? Here’s what you need to know as the two meet today

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.

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.”

July 27, 6:00 p.m.

Pope Francis signed the book of honor at the Citadelle de Québec. He wrote: “As a pilgrim in Canada, a land that stretches from sea to sea, I pray to God that this great country will always be an example in building a future that preserves and values its roots, particularly its indigenous peoples, and in being a welcoming home for all.”

📹HIGHLIGHTS | Pope Francis arrived in Quebec. He met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Governor General of Canada, representatives of indigenous peoples, members of the Diplomatic Corps, and civil authorities. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/S0ToRrW9vV — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 28, 2022

July 27, 4:55 p.m.

Pope Francis arrives in Québec and is welcomed by top government officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's governor general, Mary Simon.

Pope Francis arrived in Québec and was welcomed by top government officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's governor general, Mary Simon. #PopeInCanada #WalkingTogether 📷 @andygag / pool VAMP pic.twitter.com/VY08DDgJ8m — Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) July 27, 2022

July 27, 4:30 p.m.

Catholics can watch Pope Francis’ meeting with Canadian civil and religious authorities, members of the diplomatic corps, and representatives of the indigenous peoples in Québec live below.

July 27, 1:00 p.m.: Pope Francis in Canada: How Ukrainian migrants and indigenous peoples can learn from each other

During his “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada, Pope Francis visited Sacred Heart Church, Edmonton's first parish dedicated to pastoral care for people from the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities. Just one block away from this parish is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral of St. Josaphat, home to a Ukrainilarge Ukrainian community that began to emigrate to Western Canada 130 years ago.

The history of indigenous peoples in Canada speaks to the plight of Ukrainian immigrants. The situation faced by indigenous peoples bears many similarities to what is now being experienced in Ukraine with Russian aggression, explained Bishop David Motiuk, bishop of the Eparchy of Edmonton.

July 27, 12:00 p.m.

Pope Francis will be in Québec today. Canada's governor general, Mary Simon, will welcome him as the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada's head of state. The pontiff will also meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, civil authorities, representatives of indigenous peoples, and members of the diplomatic corps.

Pope Francis’ Events Schedule for #27July2022 #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogheter @papal_visit pic.twitter.com/nRb9Vdg7Ip — Holy See Press Office (@HolySeePress) July 27, 2022

July 27, 10:10 a.m.

This map illustrates Pope Francis’ flight path for his Canada trip.

July 26, 8:45 p.m.: Pope Francis blesses the water, pilgrims at Lac Ste. Anne in Canada

Pope Francis concluded his second full day in Canada with a visit to Lac Ste. Anne, the site of one of Canada’s most famous Catholic pilgrimages and a place of spiritual significance for the nation’s indigenous people. The pope celebrated a Liturgy of the Word at the Shrine of Ste. Anne, with a crowd of mostly indigenous people in attendance, estimated at around 10,000.

The large, shallow, and muddy lake — about an hour’s drive from Edmonton — has been revered as a place of spiritual significance, and of healing, for centuries.

📹 HIGHLIGHTS | Pope Francis visited Lac Ste. Anne, the site of an annual pilgrimage that welcomes tens of thousands of Indigenous participants from throughout Canada and the United States each year. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/o1PTQDmr8v — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 27, 2022

July 26, 7:00 p.m.

Pope Francis visits Lac Ste. Anne, a famous Catholic pilgrimage site in Canada that holds spiritual significance for the nation’s indigenous people. 

The pope blessed a bowl of the lake’s water, which was brought up to a small wooden structure, shaped like a teepee, overlooking the lake. He made the Sign of the Cross towards the four cardinal points, according to indigenous custom. The pope prayed by the water's edge in his wheelchair before sprinkling the crowds with the blessed water. 

You can watch his visit to Lac Ste. Anne here.

July 26, 4:24 p.m.: Pope Francis preaches on sharing faith with love before 50,000 at largest stadium in Canada

Preaching at a Mass celebrated in Canada’s largest stadium, Pope Francis reflected on the elderly, who he said should be honored, and who serve as an example to the Church on how to pass on faith in a loving way.

“In addition to being children of a history that needs to be preserved, we are authors of a history yet to be written,” the Holy Father said.   “The grandparents who went before, the elderly who had dreams and hopes for us, and made great sacrifices for us, ask us an essential question: what kind of a society do you want to build?”

📹 HIGHLIGHTS | On the feast of Jesus' grandparents, St. Anne and St. Joachim, Pope Francis celebrated an open-air Mass at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. An estimated 50,000 people attended. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/N2zQAvAxge — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 26, 2022

July 26, 3:00 p.m.

Pope Francis asks for the intercession of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for a “better future.” July 26 marks their feast day.

May Saints #JoachimAndAnn help us honour our #GrandparentsAndElders , to treasure their presence in order to create a better future, a future in which the story of violence and marginalization suffered by our #Indigenous brothers and sisters is never repeated. — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 26, 2022

July 26, 12:45 p.m.

According to local authorities, an estimated 50,000 people are attending the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis from the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta.

July 26, 11:30 a.m.

Catholics can watch Pope Francis’ Mass from the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, below.

July 25, 8:48 p.m.: No remains unearthed yet from Canada’s residential school grave sites

On May 27, 2021, the news broke that unmarked graves containing the remains of indigenous children had been discovered on the grounds of a former residential school in British Columbia. 

The Kamloops Indian residential school, which operated from the late 19th century to the late 1970s, was among Canada’s government-sponsored schools run by the Catholic Church to forcibly assimilate indigenous children.

More than a year later, no bodies have been discovered at the Kamloops site. It is not clear whether the graves said to have been discovered there actually exist. 

July 25, 7:42 p.m.: Pope Francis: Christ offers example of reconciliation through suffering

Speaking to a group of Catholics at Sacred Heart parish in Edmonton July 25, Pope Francis reiterated his “shame” and sorrow at the hurt caused by Catholics during the era of Canada’s residential school system, and praised the parish community as “a house for all, open and  inclusive, just as the Church should be.”

You can read more here . 

📹HIGHLIGHTS | Pope Francis met with parish members of the Community of the Sacred Heart in Edmonton. This Catholic church has bounced back from two major fires in its history, in 1966 and 2020. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/rcbIbPOSe1 — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 26, 2022

July 25, 6:30 p.m.

Catholics can watch Pope Francis' meeting with members of the Sacred Heart parish community in below. The church is the only designated indigenous church in Canada.

July 25, 2:17 p.m.: Pope Francis apologizes for harm done to indigenous Canadians at residential schools

In a speech in rural Canada before a crowd of indigenous Canadian people, Pope Francis publicly apologized 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. 

“I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry,” Pope Francis said.

You can read more here . You can also watch his speech below during his meeting with indigenous Canadians in Maskwacis, Alberta.

📹 HIGHLIGHTS | Pope Francis met with Metis, Inuit, and First Nations people in Maskwacis, Alberta. He apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in running much of Canada’s government-sponsored residential school system. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/zPHmSaajIB — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 25, 2022

July 25, 1:11 p.m.

Pope Francis started his Monday events in Canada by visiting the cemetery and chapel of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Maskwacis, Alberta, where he spent a moment of silent prayer. #WalkingTogether #PopeInCanada 📷 Vatican Media pic.twitter.com/gAndrjEZwl — Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) July 25, 2022

July 24, 12:58 p.m.

Pope Francis arrives in Canada at Edmonton International Airport and attends a welcoming ceremony.

📹VIDEO | Pope Francis arrived in Canada. He did not use the plane stairs, and a car took him to the official welcome ceremony at Edmonton airport. He used a wheelchair to greet Canadian authorities and indigenous leaders. #PopeinCanada #WalkingTogether pic.twitter.com/rdKlJeDhaL — EWTN News (@EWTNews) July 24, 2022

July 24, 9:33 a.m.: Pope Francis begins “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada During his six-day trip, the pope is expected to meet with and apologize to indigenous Canadians for abuses committed at Church-run residential schools in the 20th century. The pope’s itinerary includes stops in Edmonton, Quebec City, and Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. He returns to Rome on Saturday, July 30.

Pope Francis boarded the papal plane that will take him to Canada on his 37th apostolic journey. He has called this trip a 'penitential pilgrimage.' 📷 @dibanezgut / @EWTNVatican pic.twitter.com/WL39c9FvPs — Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) July 24, 2022

July 23, 8:00 a.m. : Pope Francis' visit to Canada: A CNA explainer

Pope Francis is set to arrive in Canada on July 24, arriving back in Rome on July 30. During his trip, he’s expected to meet with and apologize to indigenous Canadians for abuses committed at Church-run residential schools in the 20th century. Why this trip, and why now? Read about it here .

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What to Know About the Pope’s Visit to Canada and Apology to Indigenous Communities

O n July 24, Pope Francis will begin a weeklong trip across Canada that he called a “ pilgrimage of penance ” to meet with Indigenous communities and formally apologize for the rampant abuse and “cultural genocide,” at residential schools—ran by the Roman Catholic church—where more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly enrolled.

In late March, delegates of the three largest Indigenous groups in Canada—Métis, Inuit and First Nations—met Pope Francis in the Vatican, and the Pope issued the first-ever official apology from a Pope to Canada’s Indigenous community. During the meeting, the Pope said that he would aim to travel to Canada to begin a process of reconciliation and healing.

“Unfortunately, in Canada, many Christians, including some members of religious orders, contributed to the policies of cultural assimilation that in the past gravely damaged native populations in various ways,” Pope Francis said in a public statement in Vatican City last week.

Here’s what you need to know about the visit:

Why the Pope is visiting Canada

Pope Francis’s trip comes roughly a year after the remains of more than 1,000 people, primarily children, were discovered on the grounds of former residential schools across Canada, notably in British Columbia and Saskatchewan . The unmarked, mass burial sites sparked national outrage over Canada’s long history of abuse and death that took place at residential schools.

At the schools, children faced emotional, physical and sexual abuse from school authorities, oftentimes clergymen who worked there. Unsafe living conditions and abuse resulted in an undocumented number of deaths at the schools that went mostly unreported. Indigenous communities have long called for a papal apology taking accountability for the church’s involvement.

The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement , the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, went into effect in 2007. Along with financial compensation for former students, investigations into individual physical and sexual abuse allegations, funding for health and healing programs and commemoration of the hardship the schools caused, the settlement called for the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The TRC was a Canadian government commission created to examine the effects and legacy of the Indian Residential School system and to outline solutions that don’t erase the history of Indigenous suffering. The commission highlighted the church’s role in the residential school system and advocated for then Pope to make a statement.

“We call upon the Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools. We call for that apology to be similar to the 2010 apology issued to Irish victims of abuse and to occur within one year of the issuing of this Report and to be delivered by the Pope in Canada,” the TRC wrote in its Calls to Action in 2015.

The Pope will visit Edmonton, Quebec and Iqaluit, three culturally significant locations with large Indigenous population, on his trip. In a unique diplomatic fashion , the Pope won’t be meeting with Canada’s head of state, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, until halfway through the trip.

Read More : I ndigenous Groups in Canada Want More Than Apology During Pope’s Visit

The first pope to hail from the western hemisphere, Pope Francis , born in Argentina, has been credited for being more vocal about Indigenous rights than other prominent figures in the Catholic church have.

“The fact that the church deals with this is going to be really important. On Sunday, this should be discussed in every pulpit across the country for Catholic people. The priests should be explaining what this means to the Catholic people so that they turn their actions around as individuals,” Bill Erasmus, Canadian Chair for the Arctic Athabaskan Council and former Dene National Chief, tells TIME. “That’s the only way this will have any impact and meaning.”

What to know about the Roman Catholic Church’s abuses in Indigenous schools

The residential school system, which was established by the Canadian government, was a network of boarding schools across Canada, and for years attendance was mandatory for all Indigenous children. The schools have thorough documentation of wide-scale physical, sexual and psychological abuse issues that traumatized generations of Indigenous children.

“Myself, I didn’t go to a residential school. My father had to go. He experienced it, and he didn’t want that for us,” says Erasmus. “I didn’t experience it, but I’m the next generation. It’s intergenerational, it affects all of us.”

The Catholic church operated about 70% of residential schools in Canada from the 1880s to the 1990s. Beyond a rudimentary general education, indoctrination into Christianity and Euro-Canadian customs took precedence in the schools

“If you study how Indigenous lands were invaded or colonized, there’s a pattern that involves the church,” says Erasmus. “It’s because our people already knew spirituality. They already had their own belief system and they weren’t about to argue about god when other spiritual people came amongst them, so they accepted Christianity to a large degree, but then they were lulled into what happened to them.”

The residential school curriculum was designed to eradicate all aspects of Indigneous culture, according to the University of British Columbia article. Siblings were separated from each other and Indigenous languages, customs and traditions were banned. Children also endured overcrowding, poor sanitation, insufficient food and healthcare and concerningly high death rates, the article reported. In 1907, a Canadian government inspector reported that 24% of previously healthy Indigenous children were dying in residential schools.

The schools also had coursework teaching trade skills and manual labor, but the practice was generally regarded as a method to enforce social order and to contain Indigenous people to lower-working-class jobs.

What Indigenous communities want from his visit

Indigenous Canadians across the country are grappling with what the Pope’s visit could mean for them. Some feel that it’s a hollow gesture in many ways, while others look forward to it as an opportunity to find peace.

Chief Doris Bill of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation emphasizes the importance of healing that this trip offers for many survivors. The Kwanlin Dün First Nation delegation is bringing counselors and medical professionals in case the event is triggering or overwhelming for any survivors.

“I’m a survivor myself, there are about 49 of us from our First Nation that came down. It was interesting because at 4:30 this morning we had to be at the airport and everybody was excited and smiling–it was really something,” says Bill. “I think everybody has different expectations for what this trip means to them. My hope is that this helps them on their healing journey. For some, the apology means a great deal and I really hope that it helps them move forward and leave all of that negative stuff behind.”

Erasmus shares that although an apology is necessary, people may or may not be ready to accept. It remains to be seen if the Catholic church and other authorities complicit in Indigenous oppression will continue to listen to Indigenous communities and help them recover, Erasmus says.

“When it comes to the church, the government can’t be left out of this. One of the big issues here in Canada, also in the U.S., [is that] the Catholic church was paid by the government to care for our children in schools,” says Erasmus. “It’s deeply rooted, it’s systemic. It’s in the laws, it’s in the worldviews of Canada.”

Indigenous leaders and advocacy groups also continue to point out issues with the Doctrine of Discovery, the legal precedent that gave European governments and the Catholic church justification to colonize Indigenous land. In 2016, the Catholic church issued a public statement about the Doctrine of Discovery acknowledging its role in the oppression of Indigenous people, however the doctrine has never formally been renounced.

“Part of the message that the First Nations of Canada brought to the Pope when they met earlier this year is that they also have to dismiss the Doctrine of Discovery, which basically says that our people were discovered by others and because we were not Christian at contact, others had the legal obligation to occupy our lands,” says Erasmus. “Part of that is the perpetuation of the myth that we gave up our lands or that we were conquered. We were never conquered. We entered into treaties, which are peace and friendship.”

The Pope’s visit to apologize for a long and devastating history of abuse against Indigenous people in Canada is the first step in his goal to make amends.

“When the council talked about this, for us it was a no-brainer. We have to support our survivors. This could be a real watershed moment for some people in helping them to move forward on their road to healing,” says Bill.

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Pope Francis visits Canada: Here’s what happened on July 25

This article was published more than 1 year ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Pope Francis is visiting Canada July 25-29, making stops in Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit to address the devastating legacy of Canada’s residential school system.

Follow Tuesday’s live coverage of the Pope’s visit.

Pope Francis greets faithfuls outside Sacred Heart Church in Edmonton on July 25, 2022. GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/Reuters

Gerald Glade hold a photo of his mom Jeannie Glade who was a residential school survivor outside the Sacred Heart Church of the First People in Edmonton. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Pope Francis arrives at the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples to meet with members of the Indigenous community in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on July 25, 2022. VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis bows his head during service. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Spectators wait to see Pope Francis at the Sacred Heart Church of the First People in Edmonton. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Pope Francis speaks to the congregation in Sacred Heart Catholic Church of the First Peoples in Edmonton on July 25, 2022. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

An Indigenous drummer sings a song as Pope Francis enters Sacred Heart Catholic Church of the First Peoples in Edmonton. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

Pope Francis attends a silent prayer at the cemetery during his meeting with First Nations, Metis and Inuit indigenous communities in Maskwacis, Alta. GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/Reuters

Sipihko, A Cree woman, weeps after she finished singing O Canada in Cree to Pope Francis at Maskwacis, Alta. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

A headdress is placed on the head of Pope Francis following his apology for the residential school system at Maskwacis, Alta. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

Indigenous men shout war cries during the opening ceremonies for Pope Francis at Maskwacis, Alta. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

A man weeps during the apology from Pope Francis for the harm caused by the residential school system at Maskwacis, Alta. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

Chief Willy Littlechild prepares to present Pope Francis a headdress following the Pope's apology for the residential school system at Maskwacis. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

Pope Francis meets with First Nations, Metis and Inuit indigenous communities in Maskwacis, Alta. AMBER BRACKEN/Reuters

People hold a banner with the names of missing children under the residential school system during the opening ceremonies for Pope Francis at Maskwacis, Alta. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

Pope Francis speaks to members of the Indigenous community at Muskwa Park in Maskwacis, Alberta on July 25. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

A dancer performs as Pope Francis meets with First Nations, Metis and Inuit indigenous communities in Maskwacis, Alta. GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/Reuters

Pope Francis prays at a gravesite at the Ermineskin Cree Nation Cemetery in Maskwacis, Alberta, during his papal visit across Canada on Monday, July 25, Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with First Nations, Metis and Inuit indigenous communities in Maskwacis, Alberta. GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/Reuters

Indigenous community members await the arrival of Pope Francis, at Muskwa Park in Maskwacis, Alberta. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

Pope Francis arrives to attend a silent prayer at the cemetery during his meeting with First Nations, Metis and Inuit indigenous communities in Maskwacis, Alberta. AMBER BRACKEN/Reuters

Pope Francis prays in a cemetery at the former residential school, in Maskwacis, Alberta. Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press

Dennis Lightning offers a smudge ceremony with Buffalo sage to an indigenous community member before the papal visit at Muskwa Park in Maskwacis, Alberta. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

The Ermineskin cemetery during a visit of Pope Francis in Maskwacis, Alberta. VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images

A vehicle used by Pope Francis in Maskwacis, Alberta. IAN WILLMS/The New York Times News Service

Pope Francis prays with Indigenous peoples in a cemetery at the former residential school, in Maskwacis, Alberta. Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press

An indigenous dancer arrives for the visit of Pope Francis in Maskwacis, Alberta. TODD KOROL/Reuters

Indigenous people gather to see Pope Francis on his visit to Maskwacis, Alta. during his papal visit across Canada. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Pope Francis to address Indigenous people on his visit to Maskwacis, Alberta. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Indigenous people gather to see Pope Francis on his visit to Maskwacis, Alberta. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Dummers sing and play during the opening ceremony at Maskwacis prior to Pope Francis apologizing for the residential school system. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

Thousands of Indigenous people gather to see Pope Francis on his visit to Maskwacis, Alberta. Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Former Chiefs hold up Eagle Totems at Maskwacis prior to Pope Francis apologizing for the residential school system. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

A view of graves ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the cemetery in Maskwacis, Alberta. GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/Reuters

Wayne Carlick, residential school survivor, cultural coordinator, elder and language speaker of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, stands for a portrait before the papal visit at Muskwa Park in Maskwacis, Alberta. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

Teepees are shown on the the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School as Pope Francis continues his papal visit across Canada in Maskwacis, Alberta. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Members of the indigenous community hold up the memorial banner, which was the first national, public record of the names of the children who did not return home from the residential schools across Canada, as Pope Francis meets with Indigenous leaders at Muskwa Park in Maskwacis, Alberta. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

Here’s what you need to know so far:

• Thousands of residential school survivors and their families gathered in Maskwacis.
• ‘I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness’: Pope Francis apologizes for the abuses of residential schools.
• Pope Francis met with Indigenous people and the parish community of Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples in Edmonton.

8:15 p.m. ET

Pope francis leaves sacred heart, greets devotees waiting outside.

Pope Francis, while being pushed in a wheelchair, approached awaiting devotees outside Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples. Marek Keyrose, 19, was among those waiting for a glimpse of the Pope. “I was able to see the guy that literally made my culture,” the first-generation Canadian said. His family is from Ecuador, and he noted the Pope is from Argentina. “Oh my God, that was amazing.”

The Pope then got in a vehicle and left in a motorcade, waving and smiling to the cheering crowd.

– Carrie Tait

Pope Francis address Sacred Heart Church; receives gifts from children and elders

Pope Francis arrives at the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples to meet with members of the Indigenous community in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on July 25, 2022. - Pope Francis on Monday apologized for the "evil" inflicted on the Indigenous peoples of Canada on the first day of a visit focused on addressing decades of abuse committed at Catholic institutions. (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP) (Photo by VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images) VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images

At Sacred Heart, Pope Francis addressed about 200 people in Spanish, reiterating his apology made hours earlier at Maskwacis. The congregation consisted largely, although not exclusively, of Indigenous peoples.

”It pains me to think that Catholics contributed to policies of assimilation and enfranchisement that inculcated a sense of inferiority, robbing communities and individuals of their cultural and spiritual identity, severing their roots and fostering prejudicial and discriminatory attitudes; and that this was also done in the name of an educational system that was supposedly Christian,” the Holy Father said, according to the English text distributed by the Vatican.

Tanya Talaga: Pope Francis’s apology was heartfelt and historic. But it left us wanting more

The Pope acknowledged reconciliation is not easy for those who suffered under the residential school system. ”I can only imagine the effort it must take, for those who have suffered so greatly because of men and women who should have set an example of Christian living, even to think about reconciliation,” he said, according to the English text. “Nothing can ever take away the violation of dignity, the experience of evil, the betrayal of trust. Or take away our own shame, as believers.”

Despite this struggle, the Pope said “we need to set out anew.”

He added: “This is the way forward: to look together to Christ, to love betrayed and crucified for our sake; to look to Christ, crucified in the many students of the residential schools.”

Pope Francis meets Indigenous people and members of the parish community of Sacred Heart in Edmonton, Canada, Monday, July 25, 2022. Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press

After Pope Francis spoke, children presented him with gifts, such as art from Indigenous artist Jason Carter. Elders presented him with a red, yellow, and orange star blanket. Traditionally, this would be draped on the receivers’ shoulders; in this case, it was placed on his lap because of his mobility issues. The congregation cheered when it was placed on his lap.

Leaning heavily on his cane with his right hand, the Pope then stood and offered a blessing to the newly renovated church. He then returned to his wheelchair at centre stage, smiled and waved with both hands.

- Carrie Tait

6:50 p.m. ET

A survivor prepares for the pope’s visit at sacred heart church.

Some Christians believe that a church is entered in the spirit of forgiveness. So it is with Noella Amable, who was waiting patiently for the arrival of Pope Francis to Edmonton’s Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples on Monday afternoon.

The church, built in 1913 on Treaty 6 territory, is bright, airy and decorated with Indigenous art after it was damaged by fire two years ago; the tabernacle is the shape of a tipi.

Ms. Amable, who was born in Onion Lake, Sask., attended Christian day schools, not overnight residential schools, in her youth; she was hit by the nuns, though not sexually abused. But she felt her culture was taken away from her. “We couldn’t talk our language and they cut our hair short,” she said. “I think they wanted us to look like non-Indian little girls.”

Her mother was in a residential school and had a miserable time there. “She couldn’t cope after she left and she ended up on the streets of Edmonton,” Ms. Amable said.

But she said she did not come to Sacred Heart to condemn the church, or Pope Francis. “I heard his apology this morning and it was very moving for me,” she said. “My mother taught us to forgive the nuns. I had to, I had to move on. Francis did say he was sorry and we have to take that to heart. How many times can someone say they are sorry?”

- Eric Reguly

6:45 p.m. ET

Pope francis arrives at sacred heart catholic church of the first peoples in edmonton.

Stations of the Cross paintings hang in Sacred Heart Church. The paintings, by artist Sheldon Meek, were lost as a result of a fire in August, 2020 and recreated for the church's renovation. Children will present Pope Francis with prints of the works.

About 200 people gathered in Sacred Heart Catholic Church of the First Peoples in downtown Edmonton Monday afternoon. The church was smudged ahead of the Pope’s arrival. Singing and drumming started as his motorcade approached.

Members of the parish Indigenous Music Ministry will offer an honour song, the traditional hymn How Great Thou Art in Cree, according to the papal itinerary. This demonstrates to someone new or visiting that they are welcome and appreciated. The church’s Catholic Fathers, and Elder Fernie Marty, will greet the Pope.

Sheldon Meek painted the Stations of the Cross in Sacred Heart. They were lost as a result of a fire and renovations. However, they were recreated for the renovated church. Children will present the Pope with prints of the work. The Pope will also receive an eagle feather and a star quilt.

5:45 p.m. ET

Apology must be ‘the beginning and not the end,’ says crown-indigenous relations minister.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller says the Pope’s apology to Indigenous people must be “the beginning and not the end.”

He says more work must be done, including getting documents from the Catholic Church, so survivors get an element of closure and a complete picture of the residential school system.

Miller says the federal government does play a role.

- The Canadian Press

2:00 p.m. ET

Pope francis leaves maskwacis; to visit sacred heart later today.

Pope Francis is leaving Maskwacis after giving a formal apology for residential schools. The pontiff spent about 90 minutes in the Indigenous community south of Edmonton.

He is set to speak later today with Indigenous Peoples and parish members at the Church of Sacred Heart in Edmonton.

The Vatican bills Pope Francis’s stop at Sacred Heart as an “encounter,” which, in the parlance of the church, indicates a deeper, more intimate connection than a formal meeting or visit. It is anchored in outpouring and listening, a theme dear to Pope Francis.

– The Canadian Press and Carrie Tait

1:40 p.m. ET

Jerry saddleback performs honour song; chief littlechild presents pope with a traditional headdress.

An honour song by Jerry Saddleback followed the formal apology as Chief Wilton Littlechild, who suffers from health ailments, walked shakily up the steps to present Pope Francis with a traditional headdress, similar to the one worn by the chiefs who surrounded him on stage.

A headdress is placed on the head of Pope Francis following his apology for the residential school system at Maskwacis on July 25, 2022. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

The crowd applauded as Chief Littlechild, a former Truth and Reconciliation commissioner, placed the traditional and sacred item on the Pope’s head.

Sipihko, A Cree woman, weeps after she finished singing Oh Canada in Cree to Pope Francis at Maskwacis on July 25, 2022. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

Sipihko, a Cree woman in regalia cried out, singing the national anthem in her Indigenous language, through tears. The crowd applauded the unscripted, emotional moment. Shortly after, someone cried out, “Repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery ! Renounce the papal bulls!”

The papal bulls were 15th-century edicts that justified taking Indigenous land, and many Indigenous leaders have called on the pope to formally rescind them.

– Willow Fiddler

1:10 p.m. ET

Pope francis apologizes for the abuses of residential schools.

Pope Francis apologized Monday for the Catholic Church’s role in the abuse at residential schools in Canada. Speaking through a translator, the Pope said that while there were “many instances of devotion and care for children,” the overall effects of residential school policies were “catastrophic.”

The Globe and Mail

“I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the Church and of religious communities co-operated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools,” Pope Francis said at an outdoor gathering near the former site of the Ermineskin Indian Residential School, once one of the largest residential schools.

Pope Francis said that though Christian charity “was not absent” and that there were “many instances of devotion and care for children,” the overall effects of residential school policies were “catastrophic.”

Pope Francis acknowledges ‘catastrophic’ effects of residential schools in historic apology to First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples

Read Pope Francis’s full apology to Indigenous peoples for harms of residential schools

“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” he said.

The policies were a “disastrous error” incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ, he said, adding that Indigenous peoples continue to pay the price.

Near the end of his speech, the Pope called for a “serious investigation of what took place in the past and to assist the survivors of the residential schools to experience healing from the traumas they suffered.” The pontiff spoke in Spanish, his first language, with English translations provided by the Holy See press office.

Translations were also available in several Indigenous languages.

Pope Francis speaks to members of the Indigenous community at Muskwa Park in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada, on July 25, 2022. - Pope Francis will make a historic personal apology Monday to Indigenous survivors of child abuse committed over decades at Catholic-run institutions in Canada, at the start of a week-long visit he has described as a "penitential journey." (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images) PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images

The text appears to ask for a new probe into the residential schools even though their abuses were thoroughly examined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which did its work between 2008 and 2015. The Holy See press office provided no other details about what this “serious investigation” would entail, or who would do it.

The office referred to the Spanish version of the text from which Pope Francis read. There, the word “investigation” is not used. In translation from Spanish to English, it says, “An important part of this process is to make a serious search for the truth about the past.”

– Tavia Grant and Eric Reguly

12:45 p.m. ET

Chiefs of the four nations of maskwacis lead grand entry.

After Pope Francis prayed in the Ermineskin Residential School cemetery, surrounded by the graves of children, he was met and led into the Maskwa Park arena by the chiefs of the four nations of Maskwacis: Louis Bull Tribe, Samson Cree Nation, Montana First Nation and Ermineskin First Nation. The four men, dressed in traditional clothing and headdresses, then led a grand entry of drumming and singing, followed by other Indigenous leaders and dancers to welcome the Pope. The 85-year-old pontiff struggled to his feet to shake the hands of the chiefs, who then joined him on the podium.

People hold a banner with the names of missing children under the residential school system during the opening ceremonies for Pope Francis at Maskwacis on July 25, 2022. Gavin John/The Globe and Mail

A long red banner, with the names of the more than 4,000 children who never made it back home from the residential schools wove through the crowd as a reminder of why everyone has gathered today. The names were from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, which has said the full tally of missing children is much higher,

– Willow Fiddler and Tavia Grant

12:30 p.m. ET

Pope francis prays at ermineskin cree nation cemetery.

Pope Francis leaves after praying in a cemetery at the former residential school in Maskwacis. Pope Francis begins a "penitential" visit to Canada to beg forgiveness from survivors of the country's residential schools. Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press

Pope Francis’s stop at the cemetery is being streamed on two large screens at the powwow grounds. Part of the crowd is watching the screens beside the stage and part is looking toward the back, where chiefs have assembled for the grand entry.

Pope Francis prays at a gravesite at the Ermineskin Cree Nation Cemetery in Maskwacis, Alta., during his papal visit across Canada on Monday, July 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

A helicopter and drone hover overhead. People are still chatting at Maskwa Park, but it has quieted down as the Pope arrives now by wheelchair, with his entourage behind him.

11:30 a.m. ET

Residential school survivors, their families arrive for pope’s visit, ‘i’m here mainly to accept the apology on behalf of my mom and dad’.

Alma Favel King travelled from Poundmaker Cree Nation in Saskatchewan for Pope Francis’s visit to Maskwacis. She attended residential school in Onion Lake, Sask. Her parents and grandparents also attended residential school.

“I’m here mainly to accept the apology on behalf of my mom and dad. And all those who aren’t able to be here,” she said as the crowd waited for the Pope to arrive. “I think it means that the church recognizes the harm that they caused our people. And hopefully this can be a new relationship between the First Nations and the church.”

Her mother, Ms. Favel King said, would have attended if she were alive.

Ms. Favel King, 74, said she suffered advanced scabies at residential school and ended up in the hospital. Her parents refused to return her and her sister to the institution, and the priest sent her family “nasty letters” in response.

The day, she said, is “overwhelming.”

‘(I)t does mean something that he came to a First Nation to make his apology.’

David Gamble, Grand Chief of the Sask First Nations Veterans Association, has little hope that Pope Francis’s apology Monday will build on the one he made in April.

“He is saying sorry for something that he was not involved in,” he told The Globe and Mail. “… But it does mean something that he came to a First Nation to make his apology.”

Mr. Gamble, 55, says his father and his uncles were residential school survivors, and that his uncles experienced “awful sexual and mental abuse.” They resorted to alcohol and drugs to try to find solace, and some of their children got caught up in that cycle. “I lost two uncles to alcohol and I was a big alcoholic myself,” he said.

When asked whether there was anything the Catholic Church could say or do that would help repair the damage done, he replied: “What the Church can do for me is stay away from me.”

– Eric Reguly

10:30 a.m. ET

Thousands arrive in maskwacis for pope’s visit.

Thousands of people have arrived at Maskwacis in advance of the Pope’s arrival later this morning, taking seats in lines of white chairs that have been set up. Videos are playing recorded messages from the Pope and clips of people talking about the effort that led to this visit. There is a large contingent of media from around the world. A light rain fills the air with the smell of prairie grasses.

Tipis mark the site of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School. The cemetery, which Pope Francis will visit, is behind this site. Jana G. Pruden

Mascwacis, formerly called Hobbema, was the site of the Ermineskin Residential School . One of the largest in Canada, it operated from 1916 to 1975. Five tipis now mark the site, four of them representing each of the nations of this land – Samson Cree Nation, Ermineskin Cree Nation, Montana First Nation and the Louis Bull Tribe – and the fifth symbolizing the entrance to the school that once stood.

– Jana Pruden and Carrie Tait

8:00 a.m. ET

First full day of the pope’s visit to canada.

Thousands of residential and day school survivors and their families from across Canada will gather today in Maskwacis, Alta., to meet with Pope Francis. The Pope landed in Alberta on Sunday for a six-day visit to address the devastating legacy of the country’s residential school system.

He begins in the Edmonton area before heading to Quebec City and Iqaluit, where he will meet with Indigenous survivors, knowledge keepers, youth, elders and leaders, along with leaders in the Catholic Church.

Where the Pope will be on visit to Canada

Lac Ste. Anne

Quebec City

UNITED STATES

Sun., July 24: Depart Rome; arrive Edmonton

Mon., July 25: Edmonton; Maskwacis

Tues., July 26: Edmonton; Lac Ste. Anne

Wed., July 27: Depart Edmonton; arrive Quebec City

Thurs., July 28: Quebec City

Fri., July 29: Depart Quebec City; arrive Iqaluit; Rome

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP

CONTRIBUTORS; Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office

THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP CONTRIBUTORS; Bulletin of the Holy See

Press Office

Today he will travel south of Edmonton to visit Maskwacis, home of the former Ermineskin Residential School site – one of the largest such sites in Canada. He is expected to stop and offer a prayer before heading to an event at Makwa Park (for 10 a.m. MDT), where he is then expected to deliver an apology for the intergenerational harms from the church-run, government-funded schools.

Later today (at 4:45 p.m. MDT) he will meet with Indigenous people and the parish community of Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, a national Indigenous church in Edmonton, in an invitation-only event. This is the first papal visit to Canada in 20 years; it has the theme of “Walking Together,” and will focus on healing and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

– Tavia Grant

Sunday, July 24

Pope francis arrives in canada.

Pope Francis kissed the hand of Elder Alma Desjarlais, a residential school survivor, and received a beaded medallion as a gift from Grand Chief Arcand. GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/Reuters

Pope Francis touched down in Alberta just after 11 a.m. on Sunday, after making the 10-hour flight to Edmonton from Rome for a historic Canadian visit. He was met by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous Governor-General, for a brief ceremony and greeting.

Flanked by Mr. Trudeau and Ms. Simon, in a trio of chairs on a thin red carpet, Pope Francis shared private words with a procession of local and national political, Indigenous and church leaders. He kissed the hand of Elder Alma Desjarlais, a residential school survivor, and received a beaded medallion as a gift from Grand Chief George Arcand. The Pope passed out gifts of coin medallions in small red boxes to those he met.

How the Vatican encouraged the colonization of Indigenous lands – and enabled the Crown to keep them

He has described the trip as a “penitential pilgrimage,” intended to foster healing and reconciliation in the wake of a legacy of physical, sexual and emotional abuse suffered by Indigenous children at Catholic-run residential schools.

This is Pope Francis’s first visit to Canada, and only the fourth papal visit in Canadian history.

– Jana Pruden and Eric Reguly

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

The pope will be in canada between july 24 and 29, making stops in edmonton, quebec and iqaluit.

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Pope Francis will travel to Canada as planned next month, the Vatican said Thursday, confirming the long-planned trip will go ahead even though the Roman Catholic religious leader is dealing with some health issues.

The Pope, who will be in Canada from July 24 to 29 with stops in Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit, is coming here to apologize in person for the abuse suffered by Indigenous people at the hands of the Catholic Church.

• Residential school survivors call on Pope to acknowledge unmarked graves

"We know that the Holy Father was deeply moved by his encounter with Indigenous Peoples in Rome earlier this year, and that he hopes to build on the important dialogue that took place," Archbishop Richard Smith, an organizer of the Pope's visit to Canada, said in a statement.

"We pray this pilgrimage will serve as another meaningful step in the long journey of healing, reconciliation and hope," Smith said.

According to an itinerary released by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Pope will start the visit in Edmonton with a brief ceremony at the airport before calling it a day to get some rest after a long flight from Europe.

The next day, on July 25, he will meet with survivors at the site of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School in the community of Maskwacis, south of the city. Ermineskin, which was operational between 1916 and 1973, was one of the largest residential school sites in the country.

Later that day, Francis is scheduled to visit Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, an Indigenous church in the city's downtown core — a church that was recently restored after a devastating fire in 2020.

On July 26, the Pope will celebrate an open-air mass at the city's 56,000-seat Commonwealth Stadium, an event that will be open to the public. The Canadian bishops said the service will incorporate Indigenous traditions as part of the gathering.

He'll then travel to Lac Ste. Anne, Alta., a pilgrimage site where, for more than a century, First Nations and Métis Catholics have travelled to celebrate the Feast of Saint Anne, who is said to be the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus.

The next stop is Quebec City, where the Pope will meet with the prime minister and the Governor General at La Citadelle and then deliver a public address.

The Pope will visit Canada next month, Vatican confirms

On July 28, he'll preside over a mass at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, a national shrine, where some 10,000 to 15,000 guests are anticipated to attend. Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré is one of the oldest and most popular pilgrimage sites in North America, regularly drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to a place where a number of miracles are said to have happened.

Later that day, he'll participate in an evening prayer service with bishops, priests, deacons and seminarians at the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral.

The Canadian bishops said the public will be able to participate in the Quebec events as there will be a dedicated area on the Plains of Abraham on July 27 and 28 where people can witness "Indigenous cultural expression" and watch papal events in the province on big screens.

On July 29, the Pope will meet with a delegation of Indigenous people from eastern Canada before heading north to Iqaluit.

While in Nunavut, the Pope will participate in a private meeting with residential school survivors and host a delegation of young people and elders at a local primary school before heading back to Rome.

Trip to Africa cancelled

There was concern in some circles that the Pope would cancel the Canadian visit after the Vatican pulled the plug on another one of his trips abroad — a multi-day tour of Africa that was scheduled for early July.

Vatican officials said the Pope had to pull back from the planned travel to the Republic of Congo and South Sudan "at the request of his doctors" so as not to "jeopardize the results of the therapy that he is undergoing for his knee."

The Pope had been due to visit South Sudan with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Church of Scotland to make a joint, ecumenical appeal for peace in the war-torn country.

• Pope forced to cancel another event due to knee pain

Because of the ongoing health issues — the Pope has recently been seen in a wheelchair due to mobility concerns — the Canadian bishops said it is expected that the Pope's participation in public events will be "limited to approximately one hour."

The Pope has been using a wheelchair due to strained ligaments in his right knee that have made walking and standing difficult and painful.

He has refused so far to get surgery, and has instead received injections, kept the knee as immobile as possible and walking with a cane or the help of an aide.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Senior reporter

J.P. Tasker is a journalist in CBC's parliamentary bureau who reports for digital, radio and television. He is also a regular panellist on CBC News Network's Power & Politics. He covers the Conservative Party, Canada-U.S. relations, Crown-Indigenous affairs, climate change, health policy and the Senate. You can send story ideas and tips to J.P. at [email protected].

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Pope Francis to visit Canada in July

By Vatican News staff writer

The Holy See Press Office on Friday announced that Pope Francis will be travelling to Canada from 24 – 30 July, having accepted invitations from civil and ecclesiastical authorities, as well as the indigenous communities.

The upcoming July visit of the Holy Father will see him visit the cities of Edmonton, Québec and Iqaluit.

Further details about the Pope’s journey to Canada will be made available in coming weeks, the Press Office statement said.

Meetings with delegations of Canadian indigenous peoples

Ahead of this latest announcement, Pope Francis, in recent weeks, has had a series of meetings with several delegations of Canadian indigenous peoples in the Vatican.

The Pope met with the delegations of Métis and Inuit on 28 March and with the First Nations delegation on 31 March. He then received all three delegations together, along with representatives of the Canadian Bishops’ Conference (CCCB) on 1 April.

The meetings provided the Pope the opportunity to “listen and to offer space for the painful stories shared by the survivors,” and to address the ongoing trauma and suffering faced by Indigenous Peoples to this day, especially after news broke last year of the discovery of mass graves in the Kamloops Indian Residential School, with the bodies of hundreds of indigenous people.

The discovery marked the symbol of a cruel past, which from 1880 to the final decades of the 20 th Century, saw government-funded institutions run by Catholic organizations try to educate and convert indigenous youth.

Pope Francis expressed his indignation and shame “for the role that a number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have had in all these things that wounded you [the Indigenous Peoples], in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values.”

On that occasion, the Pope also said that he had been enriched by their words and testimonies and would be happy to benefit again from meeting them when he visits their native lands, where your [their] families live.

Canadian Bishops welcome Pope’s visit

In a separate statement, Bishops Raymond Poisson, the President of the Canadian Bishops’ Conference welcomed the formal confirmation of the Pope’s visit on behalf of the country’s bishops.

“We are immensely grateful that the Holy Father has accepted our invitation to continue the journey of healing and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples of this land,” Bishop Poisson said. “We pray for the health of the Holy Father as we undertake the intensive planning for this historic visit.”

Edmonton, Iqaluit and Quebec

Concerning the three cities to be visited by the Pope, the statement notes that Edmonton is home to the second-largest number of Indigenous Peoples living in urban Canadian cities and about 25 residential schools were located in Alberta – the most of any province in Canada.

Iqaluit, for its part, is home to close to 8,000 people and has the highest population of Inuit (3,900) of all Canadian cities.

Quebec City is home to Ste. Anne-de-Beaupré, one of the oldest and most popular pilgrimage sites in North America which draws Indigenous Peoples and others from throughout Canada and from around the world annually.

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A timeline of previous papal visits to Canada

Prior to commercial air travel, which only became common in the mid-20th century, it was considered historically rare for a Pope to travel beyond Europe.

This is according to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), which says that “the main reason a Pope would travel to another diocese in Italy or to another country in the world is to respond to a particular pastoral need.”

The need today is reconciliation, with Pope Francis gearing up to meet representatives of Indigenous peoples throughout a six-day tour of Canada. His visit is an effort to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in forcing an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children into Canada’s residential school system.

As Pope Francis has arrived in Edmonton, marking the first papal visit to the country in 20 years, CTVNews.ca looks back at other historical visits by a former head of the Catholic Church.

Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic visit, September 9, 1984

The first papal visit to Canada happened in 1984, when Pope John Paul II stepped off the papal aircraft in Quebec City. The trip entailed a 12-day tour of the country, which included Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Montreal, St. John’s, Moncton, Halifax, Toronto, Midland (Ontario), Winnipeg/St. Boniface, Edmonton, Yellowknife, Vancouver and Ottawa.

“Speaking in English and in French, the Holy Father made more than 30 major addresses as well as many other statements, some of which were directed to Indigenous Peoples,” reads the CCCB website.

Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic visit, September 20, 1987

The second papal visit to Canada occurred on the morning of September 20, 1987, when Pope John Paul II returned to visit Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories -- a destination on the itinerary of his former visit that had to be cancelled because of weather conditions.

On its site, the CCCB described the visit as a “spiritual celebration.”

Pope John Paul II’s third Apostolic visit, July 23, 2002

The third papal visit occurred in July 2002 for World Youth Day in Toronto, where, according to the CCCB, “a flock of more than 800,000 people gathered at Downsview Park for the closing Papal Mass.”

The Pope spent six days in and around the major Canadian city.

What to expect of Pope Francis’ visit

Among Pope Francis’s scheduled destinations is theformer Ermineskin Indian Residential School in the Alberta community of Maskwacis. This is where he is expected to issue an official apology to Indigenous Peoples for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools.

The Canadian tour will also bring the pope to Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit.

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Pope apologizes for ‘catastrophic’ school policy in Canada

Pope Francis puts on an indigenous headdress during a meeting with indigenous communities, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit, at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Catholic Church in Maskwacis, near Edmonton, Canada, Monday, July 25, 2022. Pope Francis begins a “penitential” visit to Canada to beg forgiveness from survivors of the country’s residential schools, where Catholic missionaries contributed to the “cultural genocide” of generations of Indigenous children by trying to stamp out their languages, cultures and traditions. Francis set to visit the cemetery at the former residential school in Maskwacis. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis prays at a gravesite at the Ermineskin Cree Nation Cemetery in Maskwacis, Alberta, during his papal visit across Canada on Monday, July 25, 2022. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Indigenous people hold up a banner while waiting for Pope Francis during his visit to Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, Monday, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta. Pope Francis traveled to Canada to apologize to Indigenous peoples for the abuses committed by Catholic missionaries in the country’s notorious residential schools. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Pope Francis kisses the hand of residential school survivor Elder Alma Desjarlais of the Frog Lake First Nation as he arrives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on Sunday, July 24, 2022. The pope’s visit to Canada is aimed at reconciliation with Indigenous people for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

An Indigenous man is pictured after Pope Francis delivered his apology to Indigenous people for the church’s role in residential schools during a ceremony in Maskwacis, Alberta, as part of his papal visit across Canada on Monday, July 25, 2022. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

An Indigenous dancer performs during a ceremony attended by Pope Francis in Maskwacis, Alta., as part of his papal visit across Canada on Monday, July 25, 2022. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Indigenous people wait for Pope Francis during his visit to Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, Monday, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta. Pope Francis traveled to Canada to apologize to Indigenous peoples for the abuses committed by Catholic missionaries in the country’s notorious residential schools. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with indigenous communities, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit, at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Catholic Church in Maskwacis, near Edmonton, Canada, Monday, July 25, 2022. Pope Francis begins a “penitential” visit to Canada to beg forgiveness from survivors of the country’s residential schools, where Catholic missionaries contributed to the “cultural genocide” of generations of Indigenous children by trying to stamp out their languages, cultures and traditions. Francis set to visit the cemetery at the former residential school in Maskwacis. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis prays with Indigenous peoples in a cemetery at the former residential school, in Maskwacis, near Edmonton, Canada, Monday, July 25, 2022. Pope Francis begins a “penitential” visit to Canada to beg forgiveness from survivors of the country’s residential schools, where Catholic missionaries contributed to the “cultural genocide” of generations of Indigenous children by trying to stamp out their languages, cultures and traditions. Francis set to visit the cemetery at the former residential school in Maskwacis. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

An Indigenous woman waits for Pope Francis during his visit to Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, Monday, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta. Pope Francis traveled to Canada to apologize to Indigenous peoples for the abuses committed by Catholic missionaries in the country’s notorious residential schools. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Pope Francis leaves with Indigenous peoples after praying in a cemetery at the former residential school, in Maskwacis, near Edmonton, Canada, Monday, July 25, 2022. Pope Francis begins a “penitential” visit to Canada to beg forgiveness from survivors of the country’s residential schools, where Catholic missionaries contributed to the “cultural genocide” of generations of Indigenous children by trying to stamp out their languages, cultures and traditions. Francis set to visit the cemetery at the former residential school in Maskwacis. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

This preview of a digital embed shows the areas in Canada where Pope Francis plans to visit in late July. (AP Digital Embed)

Indigenous people gather to see Pope Francis on his visit to Maskwacis, Alberta during his papal visit across Canada on Monday, July 25, 2022. (Jason Franson./The Canadian Press via AP)

FILE - Elmer Waniandy raises the crucifix as he leads his fellow parishioner into the rededicated and newly renovated Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples sanctuary, July 17, 2022, in Edmonton, Alberta. Pope Francis’ trip to Canada, which begins Sunday July 24, 2022, to apologize for the horrors of church-run Indigenous residential schools marks a radical rethink of the Catholic Church’s missionary legacy in the Americas, spurred on by the first American pope and the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at the school sites. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski, File)

Pope Francis delivers his speech as he meets the indigenous communities, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit, at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Catholic Church in Maskwacis, near Edmonton, Canada, Monday, July 25, 2022. Pope Francis begins a “penitential” visit to Canada to beg forgiveness from survivors of the country’s residential schools, where Catholic missionaries contributed to the “cultural genocide” of generations of Indigenous children by trying to stamp out their languages, cultures and traditions. Francis set to visit the cemetery at the former residential school in Maskwacis. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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MASKWACIS, Alberta (AP) — Pope Francis issued a historic apology Monday for the Catholic Church’s cooperation with Canada’s “catastrophic” policy of Indigenous residential schools, saying the forced assimilation of Native peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, severed families and marginalized generations.

“I am deeply sorry,” Francis said to applause from school survivors and Indigenous community members gathered at a former residential school south of Edmonton, Alberta. He called the school policy a “disastrous error” that was incompatible with the Gospel and said further investigation and healing is needed.

“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” Francis said.

In the first event of his weeklong “penitential pilgrimage,” Francis traveled to the lands of four Cree nations to pray at a cemetery and then deliver the long-sought apology at nearby powwow ceremonial grounds. Four chiefs escorted the pontiff in a wheelchair to the site near the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School, and presented him with a feathered headdress after he spoke, making him an honorary leader of the community.

Francis’ words went beyond his earlier apology for the “deplorable” abuses committed by missionaries and instead took institutional responsibility for the church’s cooperation with Canada’s “catastrophic” assimilation policy, which the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said amounted to a “cultural genocide.”

More than 150,000 native children in Canada were forced to attend government-funded Christian schools from the 19th century until the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture. The aim was to Christianize and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous Canadian governments considered superior.

Ottawa has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant at the schools, with students beaten for speaking their native languages. That legacy of that abuse and isolation from family has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a root cause of the epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction now on Canadian reservations.

The discoveries of hundreds of potential burial sites at former schools in the past year drew international attention to the schools in Canada and their counterparts in the United States. The revelations prompted Francis to comply with the truth commission’s call for an apology on Canadian soil; Catholic religious orders operated 66 of the country’s 139 residential schools.

Reflecting the conflicting emotions of the day, some in the crowd wept as Francis spoke, while others applauded or stayed silent listening to his words, delivered in his native Spanish with English translations. Others chose not to attend at all.

“I’ve waited 50 years for this apology, and finally today I heard it,” survivor Evelyn Korkmaz said. “Part of me is rejoiced, part of me is sad, part of me is numb.” She added, however, that she had hoped to hear a “work plan” from the pope on what he would do next to reconcile, including releasing church files on children who died at the schools.

Many in the crowd wore traditional dress, including colorful ribbon skirts and vests with Native motifs. Others donned orange shirts, which have become a symbol of school survivors, recalling the story of one woman whose beloved orange shirt, a gift from her grandmother, was confiscated at a school and replaced with a uniform.

“It’s something that is needed, not only for people to hear but for the church to be accountable,” said Sandi Harper, who traveled with her sister and a church group from Saskatchewan in honor of their late mother, who attended a residential school.

“He recognizes this road to reconciliation is going to take time, but he is really on board with us,” she said, calling the apology “genuine.”

Despite the solemnity of the event, the atmosphere seemed at times joyful: Chiefs processed into the site venue to a hypnotic drumbeat, elders danced and the crowd cheered and chanted war songs, victory songs and finally a healing song. Participants paraded a long red banner through the grounds bearing the names of more than 4,000 children who died at or never came home from residential schools; Francis later kissed it.

“I wasn’t disappointed. It was quite a momentous occasion,” said Phil Fontaine, a residential school survivor and former chief of the Assembly of First Nations who went public with his story of sexual abuse in the 1990s.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who last year apologized for the “incredibly harmful government policy,” also attended, along with other officials.

As part of a lawsuit settlement involving the government, churches and approximately 90,000 survivors, Canada paid reparations that amounted to billions of dollars being transferred to Indigenous communities. Canada’s Catholic Church says its dioceses and religious orders have provided more than $50 million in cash and in-kind contributions and hope to add $30 million more over the next five years.

While the pope acknowledged blame, he also made clear that Catholic missionaries were merely cooperating with and implementing the government policy, which he termed the “colonizing mentality of the powers.” Notably he didn’t refer to 15th-century papal decrees that provided religious backing to European colonial powers in the first place.

Jeremy Bergen, a church apology expert and professor of religious and theological studies at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, said Francis made clear he was asking forgiveness for the actions of “members of the church” but not the institution in its entirety.

“The idea is that, as the Body of Christ, the church itself is sinless,” he said via email.

“So when Catholics do bad things, they are not truly acting on behalf of the church,” Bergen added, noting it’s a controversial idea on which many Catholic theologians disagree.

Francis said the schools marginalized generations, suppressed Indigenous languages, led to physical, verbal, psychological and spiritual abuse and “indelibly affected relationships between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren.” He called for further investigation, a possible reference to demands for further access to church records and personnel files of priests and nuns to identify perpetrators of abuses.

“Although Christian charity was not absent, and there were many outstanding instances of devotion and care for children, the overall effects of the policies linked to the residential schools were catastrophic,” Francis said. “What our Christian faith tells us is that this was a disastrous error, incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The first pope from the Americas was determined to make this trip, even though torn knee ligaments forced him to cancel a visit to Africa earlier this month.

The six-day visit — which also includes stops in Quebec City and Iqaluit, Nunavut, in the far north — follows meetings Francis held in the spring at the Vatican with First Nations, Metis and Inuit delegations. Those encounters culminated with Francis’ apology April 1 for “deplorable” abuses at residential schools and a promise to do so again on Canadian soil.

Francis recalled that one of the delegations gave him a set of beaded moccasins as a symbol of children who never came back from the schools, and asked him to return them in Canada. Francis said in these months they “kept alive my sense of sorrow, indignation and shame” but that in returning them he hoped they can also represent a path to walk together.

Event organizers had mental health counselors on hand Monday, knowing the event could be traumatic for some people.

Later Monday, Francis visited Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, an Edmonton parish whose sanctuary was dedicated last week after being restored from a fire. The church incorporates Indigenous language and customs in liturgy, and both were on display during the event, with folksongs and drums and providing the backdrop to the pope’s visit.

Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto and Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

EWTN News, Inc. is the world’s largest Catholic news organization, comprised of television, radio, print and digital media outlets, dedicated to reporting the truth in light of the Gospel and the Catholic Church.

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Papal Visit to Canada: Schedule and How to Watch on EWTN

Take a look at the itinerary.

Pope Francis is set to arrive in Canada on July 24, arriving back in Rome on July 30. During his trip, he’s expected to meet with and apologize to Indigenous Canadians for abuses committed at Church-run residential schools in the 20th century. 

Why this trip, and why now? Here’s what to know:

Where in Canada Is Pope Francis Going?

The Pope’s itinerary includes stops in Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut

In Edmonton, Francis will meet with members of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, as well as with Indigenous Catholics at Sacred Heart parish . 

Later, in Quebec City, he will meet with civil authorities, representatives of Indigenous peoples, and members of the diplomatic corps. Then, the Pope will depart Quebec and fly some five hours north to Iqaluit to meet with former residential-school students. Home to only 7,500 people, Iqaluit is the capital — and only city — of Nunavut, Canada’s northernmost and most sparsely populated territory. 

Pope Francis is expected to give nine speeches in total; all will be delivered in Spanish. 

Will Pope Francis Issue An apology in Canada?

Pope Francis is expected, likely during one of his speeches, to apologize publicly for the harm caused to students who attended Canada’s residential schools, which operated from the 1870s to the 1990s. Some 150,000 children attended the residential schools.

Canada’s residential schools, though they were government-funded, were administered and run by local churches, the majority of which were Catholic. Sisters of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a French religious order, played a large role in running the schools in Canada. 

The schools broadly worked to strip away Indigenous students’ native identities, practices and languages, often against the will of the children’s tribes. 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 issues, such as malnutrition and unsanitary conditions. 

Pope Francis has reportedly issued private apologies to Indigeous people during various meetings at the Vatican. He voiced his “indignation and shame” at the treatment of the Indigenous people and asked forgiveness during his April 2022 meetings. In addition to the apology, Indigenous leaders plan to ask Pope Francis for the release of all records that relate to the residential schools and for the return of any Indigenous items from Canada that the Vatican may possess in its archives.

Has a Pope Visited Canada Before?

Pope Francis will be the second pope to visit Canada. Pope St. John Paul II made trips there in ​​1984, 1987 and 2002, the latter of which was for World Youth Day in Toronto. Though John Paul also visited Quebec City and Edmonton during his visits, no pope has ventured as far north in Canada as Francis will have when he touches down in Iqaluit. 

Another notable point: Sacred Heart parish in Edmonton, in 1991, was designated a “National Parish of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit,” the first of its kind in Canada. 

Which Indigenous Groups Will Pope Francis Meet With in Canada?

During his visit, the Pope is set to meet with both Indigenous leaders and Catholics who are Indigenous. Canada’s Indigenous people belong to the Métis, Inuit, and First Nations groups. 

Francis held private meetings with representatives of the Métis, Inuit, and First Nations peoples at the Vatican at the end of March and beginning of April, and he has spoken about the sorrow and solidarity he expressed for the harm they have suffered.

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission report was released in 2015 and requested an apology from the Pope for the abuses it uncovered within one year of its release. 

The Pope’s poor health has impeded some of his trips and events this year, but the condition of his knee has slowly improved with rest in recent weeks.

Papal Health

The 85-year-old Pope has been suffering from health problems of late and has used a wheelchair frequently for months due to a knee injury. 

He was scheduled to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan July 2-7, but postponed the trip “at the request of his doctors.” 

Full Itinerary 

Here is a more detailed look at Pope Francis’ most recent itinerary. 

He is expected to arrive in Edmonton, Alberta, at 11:20am local time July 24 and to receive an official welcome before taking the remainder of the day to rest. 

The next day, July 25, the Pope will meet at 10am with members of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples in the unincorporated community of Maskwacis, near Edmonton. This will not be the first time the Pope has met with Canadian Indigenous people; in March, Pope Francis met with representatives of the Métis and Inuit Indigenous peoples, and with the Canadian Catholic bishops, both at the Vatican.

Then, at 4:45pm that same day, he will meet with Indigenous Catholics at Sacred Heart parish in Edmonton . 

On Tuesday, July 26, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Later that day, he will participate in a pilgrimage to Lac Ste. Anne , a site which plays host annually to thousands of pilgrims, billing itself as the largest annual Catholic gathering in Western Canada. July 26 is celebrated in the Catholic Church as the feast of St. Anne, the grandmother of Christ. The Pope will also celebrate a Liturgy of the Word at the site. 

On Wednesday, Pope Francis will depart Edmonton and fly to Quebec City, the capital of Quebec. He is set to be welcomed by the governor general of Canada, and will meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Later, he will meet with civil authorities, representatives of Indigenous peoples, and members of the diplomatic corps

The next day, July 28, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass at 10am at the National Shrine of Saint Anne de Beaupré. That evening, at 5:15, the Pope will pray vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians, and pastoral workers at the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec.

On the final day of his visit, Friday, July 29, the Pope is set to have a meeting at 9am with fellow members of the Jesuit order at the archbishop’s residence. Then, at 10:45, another meeting will be held with a delegation of Indigenous peoples, also at the archbishop’s residence. 

Then, at 12:45, the Pope will depart Quebec and fly some five hours north to Iqaluit. The area has been used as an Inuit fishing hub for thousands of years.

In Iqaluit, Pope Francis will meet at 4:45pm local time with students of the former residential schools of Canada.

Watch the Coverage 

EWTN will provide live coverage of the papal trip, which can be found through the network’s program schedule .

Pope Francis is journeying to Canada, and EWTN is providing live coverage! For updated events in your local time, see our online program schedule - https://t.co/x4efL3rTpZ pic.twitter.com/EU0geAmqbN — EWTN (@EWTN) July 22, 2022

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Pope to visit Canada in July to apologise for residential schools

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Pope Francis’s visit to Canada was full of tensions — both from what was said and what wasn’t

Associate Professor, Theological Studies, Concordia University

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Christine Jamieson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Concordia University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA.

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Reactions to Pope Francis’s apology in Canada for harm perpetrated by members of the Catholic Church on children at Indian Residential Schools were far from unanimous.

While some have acknowledged the apology was genuine and deeply felt , there was tension and a mix of welcome reception and protest.

Evelyn Korkmaz, a survivor of St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in Ontario, expressed the tension well :

“I had my ups and downs, my hurrays, my disappointments… my wanting more and not getting it. I’ve waited 50 years for this apology and finally today I heard it… Part of me is rejoiced, part of me is sad, part of me is numb, but I am glad I lived long enough to have witnessed his apology. But like I said I want more, because 50 years is too long to wait for an apology.”

The Pope’s visit to Canada, despite being met with reception and protest, was significant. Visiting Indigenous people on their land was a step in the right direction, but the visit was full of tensions — both from what was said and what wasn’t.

Meeting on Indigenous land

In late March an Indigenous delegation from Canada visited the Pope . And last week, the Pope met with Indigenous people on their land, in their homes.

The Pope, representing the Catholic Church, coming to what we now call Canada was significant. He came, as he said , on a “penitential pilgrimage” to encounter, to listen, to apologize.

The Anishinaabe speak of this as entering one another’s lodge — done in an effort to understand each other’s way of being and acting in the world.

The encounter with Pope Francis was full of tensions, in part healing for survivors and their families and in part triggering deep wounds from a traumatic past .

These tensions were illustrated during Cree woman Si Phi Ko’s protest . After former Truth and Reconciliation commissioner Chief Wilton Littlechild placed a headdress on the Pope’s head, Phi Ko could not be silent as she saw it as a sign of disrespect. But for Chief Littlechild, Pope Francis choosing to visit his territory was an honour .

This tension, poles of reception and protest was evoked not only from what was said by Pope Francis in his apology, but by what was omitted.

What was omitted

While recognizing the importance of the apology, former TRC commissioner Murray Sinclair saw a “deep hole” in it.

Sinclair said the Catholic Church’s role in the cultural genocide of Indigenous Peoples was more than just the work of a few bad people, adding it was:

“A concerted institutional effort to remove children from their families and cultures, all in the name of Christian supremacy. While an apology has been made, that same doctrine is in place.”

This doctrine Sinclair is referring to is the Doctrine of Discovery . The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal framework that justified acts like the colonization of North America and its roots are in a series of papal statements. Over the course of the Pope’s visit, many called for it to be rescinded .

As Sinclair mentioned, the church played a role in the cultural genocide of Indigenous people, which is something the Pope failed to acknowledge until he was on the plane home . “I didn’t use the word genocide because it didn’t come to mind but I described genocide,” Francis said.

What was also omitted, in some instances, was the presence of survivors — from the procession to sitting in the front seats during the eucharist , both in Edmonton and at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré . Indigenous symbols and ceremonies were also omitted from the altar and during the service.

While Pope Francis sincerely sought reconciliation, reconciliation did not seem to touch these forms of celebration and the clash of cultures was palatable.

Tensions stretched wide

There are also tensions within the Catholic Church itself that were reflected during the papal visit. The tension is between what philosopher Bernard Lonergan calls “ classism” and “historical mindedness .”

The Catholic Church as an institution has not adopted a framework that can come to terms with its role in the spiritual, sexual, cultural, emotional and physical abuse suffered by Indigenous children at Indian Residential Schools.

This was clear through the lack of sensitivity to Indigenous cultures during the eucharist and the presence of cardinals, bishops and clergy in the first rows that, at times, obscured the fact that the visit was meant to be an encounter with Survivors and Indigenous communities.

As many said during the Pope’s visit, healing must take place within both parties .

Healing for Indigenous Survivors will constitute both an interior and exterior journey. Healing within the Catholic Church must constitute a reappropriation of truth and value in face of all evil it has been part of.

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High-scoring college forward will visit Kentucky basketball and Mark Pope next week

One of the top-scoring college basketball forwards in the NCAA transfer portal will be taking a recruiting visit to Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Great Osobor — a 6-foot-8 forward who previously played at Montana State and Utah State — will be in Lexington from April 29 to May 1.

Osobor also is planning to take visits to Louisville (May 1-3), Texas Tech (May 4-6) and Washington (May 7-9).

After spending the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons in a reserve role at Montana State, Osobor enjoyed a breakout campaign last season with the Aggies, who earned an 8 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and advanced to the round of 32.

Osobor — who was born in Spain but attended prep school in England — averaged of 17.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals last season at Utah State. He averaged more than 33 minutes played per game and started all 35 contests for the Aggies. Osobor recorded 15 double-doubles.

Utah State won the regular-season Mountain West Conference championship last season. Osobor was the conference’s player of the year and its newcomer of the year.

According to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa , Osobor is ranked as the No. 47 overall player in the NCAA transfer portal, as of Tuesday afternoon.

According to KenPom, Osobor had a 58% effective field goal percentage and a 60.3% true shooting percentage last season. Some of Osobor’s other standout statistics related to how well he drew fouls and went to the free-throw line: He ranked 22nd in the nation in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (6.8 fouls) and eighth in the country in free-throw rate, which measures a player’s ability to get the line relative to how often he attempts to score.

“Staying aggressive, being a physical player. If you play hard, the game will reward you,” Osobor said during the Mountain West Tournament this season about his ability to draw fouls.

Osobor made 63.4% of his free throws last season. He’s not a 3-point shooting threat, having only attempted 18 career 3-pointers across three college seasons.

Osobor has played all three of his previous college basketball seasons for Danny Sprinkle, who was the head coach at both Montana State and Utah State while Osobor was on those rosters. Sprinkle left Utah State to become the new head coach at Washington.

Osobor entered the NCAA transfer portal in early April.

Sprinkle and the Huskies will get Osobor’s final recruiting visit out of the transfer portal next month.

Osobor has also played in each of the last three NCAA tournaments, having won consecutive Big Sky Tournament titles with Montana State in 2022 and 2023 before receiving an at-large bid with Utah State last season.

Utah State’s final game this season was a round-of-32 NCAA Tournament defeat to eventual national runner-up Purdue. Prior to that game Sprinkle shared that a lot of what Utah State ran, and a lot of what made Osobor such an effective player, was borrowed from the Boilermakers.

“Our post guys, we’ve been kind of guarded probably how — maybe not to the extent of (Zach) Edey , but Great’s been double- and triple-teamed and swarmed all year,” Sprinkle said. “A lot of the offensive sets, like, we steal a lot of sets from (Purdue coach Matt Painter) and his staff. We did at Montana State too... We try to feed the post top down, too, just like they do 90% of the time.”

An important connection exists with relation to Kentucky’s chance of securing Osobor as a major transfer portal addition.

Osobor is represented by agent George Langberg , who is also the agent for Amari Williams, another native of England who committed to the Wildcats out of the transfer portal from Drexel last weekend. Osobor and Williams were prep school teammates in England at Myerscough College in Preston.

Kentucky officially announced Williams as a transfer portal addition on Tuesday afternoon.

Mark Pope continues to build his first Kentucky basketball roster

It’s been a tremendously active week-plus for Pope as he continues to build his first UK basketball roster from scratch.

Aaron Bradshaw (Ohio State), Joey Hart (Ball State) and Zvonimir Ivisic (Arkansas) are players from the 2023-24 Kentucky squad that will transfer to new schools. Additionally, Jordan Burks, Adou Thiero and D.J. Wagner are still in the NCAA transfer portal.

Thiero has a return to Kentucky among his final five options. The other schools on his list are Arkansas (where he’d rejoin Calipari), Indiana , North Carolina and Pittsburgh.

Also from last season’s team, Rob Dillingham , Justin Edwards, Ugonna Onyenso and Reed Sheppard have declared for the 2024 NBA draft. Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves have exhausted their college eligibility.

Collin Chandler, a combo guard and former BYU signee, announced last week he would be following Pope to Kentucky. Chandler was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class before taking a two-year mission trip. Kentucky officially announced Chandler’s arrival Monday.

On Sunday afternoon, Pope made his first transfer portal addition of the offseason when Williams committed to UK.

On Monday night, Perry — the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history — confirmed his commitment to Pope and the Wildcats.

That puts the UK basketball roster for next season at three scholarship players.

College basketball players have until May 1 to enter the transfer portal. The early-entry deadline for the 2024 NBA draft is April 27, and players who enter the draft with remaining NCAA eligibility will have until May 29 to remove their names from consideration and return to school.

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Tracing the Long, Winding Path of an Ancient Roman Aqueduct

The Aqua Marcia was the longest of the city’s aqueducts, running nearly 60 miles from its source in the countryside to the heart of ancient Rome. The author followed its course, above and below ground.

In the Park of the Aqueducts, 20 minutes by metro from central Rome, ancient aqueducts that once supplied the Eternal City with water have been preserved. Credit... Roberto Salomone for The New York Times

Supported by

By David Laskin

David Laskin, a frequent visitor to Rome for the past four decades, has written numerous articles on the history, culture, art and architecture of the Eternal City.

• April 24, 2024

The stone arches looped solemnly over their shadows, some teetering above the grass, some sinking into it. It was a dazzling January morning, and I was standing in the Park of the Aqueducts , about 20 minutes by metro from central Rome. Here, the ruined arcades of six of the 11 aqueducts that once supplied the Eternal City with an astonishing volume of water — by some counts double the per capita water allotment of a typical 21st-century American city — have been preserved.

My aim was to trace the course of one of them: the Aqua Marcia, built between 144 and 140 B.C. by Julius Caesar’s ancestor Quintus Marcius Rex.

Hailed by Pliny the Elder as “the most famous of all waters in the world for coldness and wholesomeness,” the Marcia was also the longest of the capital’s ancient aqueducts, running some 56.8 miles from source to city. Only about 6.2 miles stood above ground.

I had always assumed that Rome’s aqueducts were a kind of aerial plumbing, their water channeled atop arches. But the Marcia, like all classical aqueducts, ran largely underground. The water moved by the force of gravity, and arches and bridges, which were expensive and vulnerable to attack, were only used to span ravines, valleys and other dips in the terrain that would have interrupted the flow.

The arcade of the Marcia is now dry, but the same water still feeds mountain springs east of the capital. And though it now travels through a modern network of tunnels and tubes, the water is still referred to by its ancient name and is still considered Rome’s best drinking water.

One of the series of arches that rose before me once carried this current to Rome. But which one?

In the Park of the Aqueducts

The roughly 600-acre Park of the Aqueducts has few signs, maps or directions. Romans come here to jog and walk their dogs. The few tourists wander through a bucolic landscape — green, tranquil, its imposing ruins seemingly untouched by modernity — that has appeared in such iconic Italian films as “La Dolce Vita” and “La Grande Bellezza.”

Michele Alfonsi, a lawyer who heads up Pons Iani , a volunteer group devoted to aqueducts, offered to guide me. “See that?” he asked, pointing to a stone passageway atop massive arches. “That’s the specus of the Aqua Marcia.”

Specus is the Latin term for a roofed channel built at a slight downward slope so that water would run through it without gushing or puddling. This one was nearly high enough to stand up inside.

We clambered up the keystone of the arch, now just a few feet above ground level. When it was completed during the heyday of the Republic, the Marcia was the first aqueduct to bring water to the Capitoline, Rome’s most sacred hill. A small fountain there has been chiseled with the words “Acqua Marcia,” but like modern Rome’s taps, it now spouts a mixture of water from five different founts.

To sample pure Marcia water, I’d need to travel to the source.

‘Where’s the water?’

Sextus Julius Frontinus, the first-century commissioner of the aqueducts, wrote that the fount of the Marcia is near the 36th milestone of the ancient Roman road Via Valeria (roughly 35 miles east of Rome). But I had been warned that the original trenches had been obliterated in 1870 when the Marcia’s long-defunct classical aqueduct was reincarnated as the Acqua Pia Antica Marcia.

“You’ll get close,” said Peter J. Aicher, author of “Guide to the Aqueducts of Ancient Rome,” “by searching for Centro Casetta Rossa Idrico on Google Maps.”

I found the “casetta,” a small red stucco house used by the modern aqueduct’s maintenance personnel, at the edge of a green field. Aside from the inscription “Acqua Pia Antica Marcia 1870” carved over the front door, and the shed-like structures built above springs alongside the road, there was no indication that Rome’s best drinking water originated here.

I took in the rounded hills, hazy blue in the distance, and the Italian cypresses striping their shadows across a little-traveled, two-lane highway. “Where’s the water?” I asked a maintenance man. He pointed down: The underground springs that Quintus Marcius Rex first channeled over 2,000 years ago still bubble beneath this bucolic spot. The only way to plumb Marcia’s depths was to go spelunking.

Which is how, a few days later, I found myself clinging to an exposed tree root on the side of a ravine dropping to the Aniene River east of Rome. “Put your right foot there,” Alfonso Diaz Boj coaxed. “Two more steps and we’ll be at the Marcia’s specus.”

Mr. Diaz Boj, a guide with Sotterranei di Roma , which offers tours of Rome’s underground treasures, was leading a jaunt into the ancient, now-dry aqueduct channels buried near the town of Vicovaro, about eight miles west of the Marcia’s source. Twelve of us met at the Convent of San Cosimato, whose property contains the ruins, to suit up in hard hats and headlamps.

Once we had negotiated the hand- and toeholds and were hunched into the shoulder-high specus, Mr. Diaz Boj pointed to a lozenge of light slanting down from a shaft: “Teams of workers excavated these shafts every 15 meters. When they reached the proper depth, two teams dug toward each other laterally until they joined up.”

We passed bats clinging to the walls, and quills attested to the presence of porcupines. Over the centuries, the Marcia’s water had deposited multicolored bubbles and stripes of calcium on the concrete that Romans used to seal the specus. Mr. Diaz Boj pointed to graffiti scratched into the concrete — mysterious crosses, doodles and the possibly faked signature of Thomas Ashby, the British archaeologist and author of the 1935 “Aqueducts of Ancient Rome.”

After a lunch of lasagna, saltimbocca alla Romana and roast potatoes at the convent, I had a drink from a spigot in the garden. Only later did I learn that Vicovaro is inside the zone that receives the Marcia’s water unadulterated. It was delicious and refreshing, though I can’t say I detected much difference from the mixed water of central Rome.

The Marcia surfaces on arches and bridges several times between Vicovaro and the Park of the Aqueducts, most spectacularly at Ponte Lupo, about 10 miles south of Tivoli. This colossal bridge spanning a deep gorge has been in the hands of the Barberini family since 1633, when Pope Urban VIII acquired the surrounding estate. Guided tours (reserve by email, [email protected] ) are offered occasionally and during the festivals held here in the summer. Fortunately for me, a friend in Rome had arranged a private visit.

Ponte Lupo’s present owner, the actor and activist Prince Urbano Barberini, was waiting for us at the unpaved access road. A trim, handsome man in his early 60s, the prince recounted the site’s recent vicissitudes as he led us down a sloping meadow. When he regained title to the property after a long legal battle, the field and stream around the bridge had been buried in rubbish and frequented by sex workers.

I had seen images of Ponte Lupo, but nothing prepared me for its size and complexity. The original tuff arches carried the Marcia across a steep ravine. Subsequent retaining walls and buttresses have transformed the bridge into a palimpsest of building styles.

“It’s a difficult scramble,” the prince said, gazing up to the precipitous, densely vegetated summit above a dry creek. “Would you like to try?”

I eyed the rugged, tangled sides of the ravine. “Maybe not.”

“Good,” the prince replied, smiling. And we strolled back to the highway.

‘Engineering on a monumental scale’

The Marcia entered Rome on arches at Porta Maggiore , chosen as the entry point for eight ancient aqueducts because of its high elevation on Esquiline Hill. At first glance this busy crossroads near the Termini rail station struck me as rough and forlorn, but I gave it a closer look. Aqueduct arches converge or radiate from every direction. The Marcia’s specus is slotted above a chunky pier built of a volcanic stone called tuff that abuts the gate.

If you tune out the traffic, there is no better place to savor what one historian calls the Roman “knack for practical engineering on a monumental scale.”

It takes about half an hour on foot to trace the Marcia’s path through ancient Rome. From Porta Maggiore, the aqueduct tracked the Aurelian Wall as far as the elegant Augustan arch called Porta Tiburtina. From there, it veered off to follow today’s Via Marsala before emptying into a distribution basin now buried beneath the train station.

The Fountain of the Naiads

After the Marcia was reborn as the Marcia Pia in 1870, the Fountain of the Naiads was conjured up to showcase its purity in the Piazza della Repubblica, a 10-minute walk from Termini station.

Some of Baroque Rome’s most cherished monuments are display fountains, or mostre, celebrating the newly restored aqueducts that once again brought spring water to Rome. The Trevi Fountain is the mostra of the Acqua Vergine, the only aqueduct that has run continuously since antiquity.

But the Fountain of the Naiads is different. Unlike the gravity-fed aqueducts of pre-modern times, the Marcia flowed under pressure created by mechanical pumps, which allowed the fountain’s jets to shoot nearly seven feet high.

Katherine Rinne, the author of the forthcoming “Walking Rome’s Waters,” calls this “the Hugh Hefner fountain” because of its cavorting naked nymphs. It rises in the middle of a busy major intersection. “If you are brave enough to face six lanes of horrendous traffic,” Ms. Rinne said, “you can dangle your feet in it on a hot day.”

Just don’t drink it. Today, the naiads frolic in water that is periodically drained for cleaning and maintenance.

If you are inspired to sip from the source, do as the Romans do and cup a hand under one of the nasoni (big noses) that spout from goose-necked spigots all over town. Two thousand years after Pliny lauded the Marcia as a gift from the gods, Rome’s aqueducts are still lavishing cold, clear spring water on the Eternal City.

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