Edmonton (Canada) ∙ More than half a million faithful attended an open-air Mass on Monday where Pope Francis apologized for the discrimination faced by indigenous children in Catholic residential schools in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Pope, who is on a 6-day tour of Canada, visited the pilgrimage site of Lac Este-Anne. The pilgrimage site, 70 km from Edmonton, is also important to the locals.
Last day, the Pope apologized to the indigenous people in a public forum in the city of Musquejis. Over one and a half million indigenous children were placed away from their parents in residential schools between 1881–1996 as part of a government program to eliminate indigenous culture. The Pope came to Canada to fulfill a promise he made earlier this year to a delegation of indigenous peoples to visit Canada to apologize for atrocities committed against children in church schools.
English Summary: Pope Francis Canada visit