Pope Francis, struggling with a bad knee, is going ahead with plans to visit Canada this summer to apologize in person for the abuse suffered by Indigenous peoples at the hands of the Catholic church, APA reports citing CBC News.
The Vatican on Friday announced that Francis would head to Canada on July 24 and visit Edmonton, Quebec, and Iqaluit, a small town where about half the population is Inuit, before returning to Rome on July 30.
Last month, Francis made a historic apology for abuses in Canada’s church-run residential schools. He said he wanted to go to Canada to deliver the apology personally to survivors of misguided Catholic missionary zeal.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Francis was “accepting the invitation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and the Indigenous communities” in making what the Holy See termed an “apostolic journey.”
The Vatican said details of the Canada trip would be made public in the coming weeks. Canadian bishops said the pope was expected to visit the site of a former residential school, as well as “other locations of particular significance.”
The Canada trip is being limited in scope geographically because of the pope’s health problems. “Given the vast landscape of Canada, the limited time for the visit and considering the health of the 85-year-old pontiff,” only three communities will serve as a base for the trip, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a statement.
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