EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada (AP) — Pope Francis began a historic visit to Canada on Sunday to apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses committed by missionaries in Catholic residential schools, a key step in the Church’s efforts to reconcile with Indigenous women and help them heal from trauma that spans generations.

Francisco kissed the hand of a victim of abuse at one of these residential schools when he was received at the airport in Edmonton, in the province of Alberta, by native representatives, by the Prime Minister Canadian Justin Trudeau and by Mary Simon, an Inuk who is Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General.

The gesture set the tone for what the pontiff said was a “penitential pilgrimage” to atone for the role played by Catholic missionaries in forcing generations of Indigenous children into Canadian culture, a visit that sparked a mix of emotions across Canada, where victims and their families come to terms with the trauma of their losses and receive long-sought papal apologies.

The pontiff had no official events scheduled for Sunday, giving him time to rest before meeting the victims on Monday near a former boarding school in the town of Maskwacis, where he is expected to pray in a cemetery and apologize.

Francisco got out of the back of the plane using an ambulatory vehicle because he suffered from an inflamed ligament in one knee and was forced to use a wheelchair. The simple welcoming ceremony took place in an airport hangar, where indigenous drums and songs broke the silence. As Trudeau and Simon sat next to the Pope, a number of Indigenous leaders and elders greeted him and exchanged gifts. At one point, the pontiff kissed the hand of elder Alma Desjarlais, a member of the First Lake Indian Nation and a victim of residential school abuse, when introduced to him.

“A lot of our people are skeptical and hurt right now,” said Grand Chief George Arcand Jr. of the Treaty Six Confederacy of First Nations, who greeted the pope. However, he expressed his hope that with the papal apology, “we can begin our journey to heal…and change the way things have been for our people for many, many years.”

However, Indigenous groups are looking for more than just words and have lobbied for access to Church records to learn the fate of children who never returned from residential schools. They also want punishment for the abusers, financial reparations for the victims, and the return of indigenous artifacts held by the Vatican Museums.

RoseAnne Archibald, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said several members of her family attended boarding schools, including a sister who died at one in the province of Ontario. He said it was “an institution of integration and genocide”.

During the flight to Alberta, “I was so overwhelmed with emotion, and there were several moments on the plane where I really had to try not to burst into tears,” she said. declared. “I realized that I am a victim of intergenerational trauma and there are many people like me.”

Francisco’s week-long trip — during which he will visit Edmonton; the city of Quebec and finally the city of Iqaluit, in the province of Nunavut, in northern Canada – stands after meetings he held at the Vatican at the beginning of the year with delegations from the Native Nations, Métis and of the Inuit. Those talks culminated in a historic apology on April 1 for “deplorable” abuses by some Catholic missionaries at boarding schools.

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