Pope Francis' "Penitential Pilgrimage" to Canada

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/americas/pope-francis-canada-visit-intl/index.html

CNN — Pope Francis departed Rome on Sunday for a week-long trip to Edmonton, Canada, where he’s set to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the abuse of Canadian Indigenous children in residential schools.

The Vatican has called the trip a “penitential pilgrimage,” and the Pope will be welcomed in Edmonton on Sunday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mary Simon, the Governor General of Canada.

While in the country he will meet with Indigenous groups and address the scandal of abuse and erasure of indigenous culture in the country’s residential schools.

Indigenous leaders have long called for a papal apology for the harm inflicted for decades on Indigenous children. Last year, hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered on the grounds of former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has reported that more than 4,000 Indigenous children died either from neglect or abuse in residential schools, many of which were run by the Catholic Church.

In April, the Pope told Indigenous leaders at the Vatican that he feels “sorrow and shame for the role that a number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have had in all these things that wounded you, in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values.”

These apologies are always worded carefully so as not to implicate the church itself. The pope does not believe the motto of President Harry Truman: “The buck stops here.” Yet the fact is the church ordained these abusive priests and authorized the system for which the pope was now apologizing.

What about all the murders? The link above shows that hundreds of children were buried on the grounds of just one such school, all put in unmarked graves. The long delay in this apology has allowed those abusive priests and educators live out their lives without being called into account for their murder and child abuse.

I can appreciate any apology, but it seems to me that Francis’ apology is far from adequate.