On Thursday, noon mass at St. Patrick’s Basilica in Montreal took on a special meaning: a moment to give thanks for the news that Pope Francis is coming to Canada and visiting Quebec.
“It was a joy,” Monsignor Francis John Coyle said of the moment he learned the news. “As I always say, you never think or underestimate Pope Francis.”
The Vatican confirmed Pope Francis will visit Canada and include a stop in Quebec.
The Pope cancelled a planned July trip to Africa at the request of doctors, but the Vatican says the visit to Canada July 24 to 29 will go ahead.
“I think it shows how much he really wants to meet with the Indigenous people in Canada,” said Janet McLean, a parishioner of St. Patrick’s Basilica.
His first stop is expected to be Alberta, which will include a visit to the site of a former residential school.
He will then move on to Quebec City July 28 and 29. His trip will end in Iqaluit.
Quebec Archbishop Gérald Lacroix says the Pope will be welcomed in Quebec by government officials at the Citadelle as is customary. He will also offer a public address.
That same day, Pope Francis will also visit the Plains of Abraham, where he is expected to welcome the public and meet with Indigenous people.
On the final day of his visit, he will celebrate mass at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.
It’s one of the oldest and most popular pilgrimage sites in North America, according to the Catholic Church.
He will wrap up his visit to Quebec meeting with Indigenous and religious leaders.
“It’s a trip that honestly fills us with hope,” said Lacroix. “Because it’s another big step in this process of reconciliation.”
The Pope is fulfilling a promise he made to Indigenous people in March, when a delegation from Canada visited him at the Vatican.
Then, he delivered a formal apology for the grave harm caused by Canada’s residential schools.
Those are the words some are hoping to hear in their homeland.
“This is not a celebration for us, far from it,” says the chief of Assembly of First Nations Quebec Labrador, Ghislain Picard. “I think that has to be understood and respected and at the same time, we know as well that the church needs to be accountable for its actions.”
Picard says he hopes survivors of residential schools are properly represented during the visit and that their wishes are respected, so healing can truly begin.
The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.