On the second day of the papal visit to Canada, Pope Francis held a new meeting with the indigenous peoples of the country, in which he gave a message of reconciliation and underlined the need to “start afresh” by looking together at Christ crucified.
“I understand the weariness to see any prospect of reconciliation in someone who has suffered tremendously because of men and women who had to bear witness to the Christian life. Nothing can erase the violated dignity, the evil suffered, the trust betrayed”, said the Holy Father, on 25 July, to the members of the parish community of the Church of the Sacred Heart from the city of Edmonton, located in the west of the country.
“And the shame of us believers must never be erased either. But it is necessary to start over,” he added.
Pope Francis later said that “Jesus does not offer us words and good intentions, but the cross, that scandalous love that lets nails pierce its feet and wrists and pierce its head with thorns. This is the direction to follow, to look together at Christ, the love betrayed and crucified for us; see Jesus crucified in so many residential school students.”
This Monday, 25 July, the Pope visited the city of Edmonton to meet with several indigenous leaders who visited him in Rome a few months ago and who represent the survivors of abuse in residential and Catholic schools in Canada.
“If we want to reconcile among ourselves and within ourselves, reconcile ourselves with the past, with the injustices suffered and the wounded memory, with traumatic events that no human consolation can heal, we must look up to Jesus crucified, we must obtain peace in his altar”, he reiterated.
The Holy Father explained that it is “on the cross where the pain is transformed into love, death into life, disappointment into hope, abandonment into communion, distance into unity.”
“Reconciliation is not so much our work, it is a gift that springs from the Crucified, it is the peace that comes from the Heart of Jesus, it is a grace that must be asked for”.
Pope Francis also recalled that “the Church is the house where to reconcile again, where to meet to begin again and grow together”.
“It is the place where you stop thinking as individuals to recognize each other as brothers looking into each other’s eyes, embracing the stories and culture of the other, letting the mystique of being together so pleasing to the Holy Spirit favor the healing of wounded memory,” he said.
The Pope assured that this “is the Church” true, and “not a set of ideas and precepts to instill in people, but a welcoming home for all.”
“This is the Church – and I wish it were always like this – a temple with its doors always open where all of us, living temples of the Spirit, meet, serve and reconcile,” he added.
He also said that while “gestures and visits can be important,” “most of the words and activities of reconciliation happen at the local level, in communities like this one, where people and families walk side by side, day after day”.
“Praying together, helping together, sharing life stories, joys and common struggles opens the door to God’s reconciling work,” he assured.