Pope Francis kissed a flag that seeks to remember the more than 4,000 children who have been victims of abuse in former residential schools in Canada.
Pope Francis arrived in Ermineskin on the second day of his trip to Canada, a residential neighborhood in southwest Edmonton, Alberta. The Holy Father prayed silently in front of the local cemetery and met with First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and indigenous peoples.
The meeting took place on the territory of the former residential school in Ermineskin, the partially demolished one which functioned between 1895 and 1975. The Holy Father apologized for the abuse suffered by thousands of indigenous children who studied in Catholic residential schools in the country.
During the welcome to Pope Francis, a delegation of representatives of the indigenous communities came out dancing and singing songs in indigenous languages ​​with a message of “healing” and also paraded with a large red flag that caught the attention of the public.
According to the organizers, the flag had the names of 4,120 boys and girls who had died in residential schools, as well as the name of the educational centers to which they belonged, written in white.
In a photo shared by Vatican Media, the Holy Father can be seen taking the red flag with both hands from his wheelchair inside the chapel of Santa Maria de los Siete Dolores, and kissing it with his head bowed and his eyes closed in a gesture of deep respect and forgiveness.
The flag that Pope Francis kissed and blessed was carried by one of the members of the indigenous communities who wore an orange T-shirt, which is a symbol of the survivors of the residential schools.
In his message, the Pope said that he is in Canada “to cry with you, to look at the earth in silence, to pray by the graves.”
In addition, he recalled that “our efforts to heal and reconcile are not enough, his grace is necessary, the affable and strong wisdom of the Spirit is necessary, the tenderness of the Comforter”.
In this sense, he called on the faithful to pray “to the God of life”, who made the tomb “the place of rebirth, of resurrection, where a story of new life and universal reconciliation began”.
According to an investigation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, carried out between 2008 and 2015, between 4,000 and 6,000 students died due to negligence or as a result of abuse in the different residential schools in Canada.