An Indigenous delegation is to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican in early spring to discuss reconciliation and healing after a visit was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A joint statement from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and national organizations representing First Nations, Inuit and Metis people says the delegation is to meet with the Pope in Rome the week of March 28. A final audience with him is to take place April 1.
“For those individuals who are chosen, they expressed a great desire to represent their people,” said Bishop William McGrattan, vice-president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, in Calgary.
“They saw this as something beyond their personal pilgrimage, or their personal going to meet the Holy Father. They were representing their communities. I think that’s the significance, the importance.”
The health and safety of delegates remains the first priority, said the joint statement released Tuesday. The groups involved will monitor conditions and public health guidance leading up to the revised dates, travelling only if they feel it is safe to do so, the statement said.
The delegation was put on hold a week before the trip was to take place in December.
Indigenous groups and Canadian Catholic bishops said at the time that the decision was heartbreaking, but prudent, given how quickly the Omicron variant was spreading and the uncertainty that posed.
The risks were too great, they said, particularly for elders who would have travelled, and for those who could potentially bring back the virus to their remote communities, where COVID-19 can pose a higher risk due to crowded housing and a lack of health care.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is to cover the travel costs.
The plan is to have 25 to 30 Indigenous people, including elders, residential school survivors and youth, meet with Pope Francis. First Nations, Metis and Inuit are to have separate meetings with him before a sitting with all three together.
The delegation’s theme is how Indigenous Peoples and the Catholic Church can move forward together toward healing and reconciliation. It’s expected Indigenous participants will also be able to share their expectations for a papal visit to Canada.
“We remain committed to walking toward healing and reconciliation,” the joint statement said.
McGrattan said the groups prioritized an in-person meeting over a virtual delegation because it was important that Pope Francis hear about residential schools directly from survivors and their descendants.
“This was an opportunity not only for him to hear what they have been experiencxjmtzywing but also, I think, to help prepare him for his eventual visit,” McGrattan said.
Last year, the Vatican announced that the Pope was willing to make that pilgrimage. Indigenous leaders have said it must come with an apology.
Calls for the Pope to apologize for the church’s role in residential schools have intensified since the discovery last year of unmarked graves at former school sites.
Over a century, an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools. More than 60 per cent of the schools were run by the Catholic Church.
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Pope Francis celebrates Christmas Eve Mass, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
