The first papal visit to Canada was almost 40 years ago. That’s when Pope John Paul conducted a 12-day, cross-country tour in September of 1984. As a young reporter working at The Canadian Press, I was only tangentially involved in the coverage – my job was to represent CP at a downtown Toronto press centre, collect media passes from organizers and then distribute them to the small army of reporters and photographers who were documenting the pope’s every move. Looking back on the way the media covered that first trip in 1984, it truly was a different era. Newsrooms were much bigger. John Paul had an almost rock star aura at the time. He filled Montréal’s Olympic Stadium for a mass and millions of people across the country – many of whom weren’t Catholic – came out to see him as he travelled in his custom-made Popemobile. (I remember getting a quick glimpse of him in the vehicle
as he travelled down Toronto’s University Avenue, where the sidewalks were thick with cheering admirers.) And there was no public discussion about the church’s role in the Indian Residential School system, which would still have been in existence in some parts of the country then.
John Paul met with Indigenous groups on that trip, including a stop at the historic Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont., located near the site of a 17th century Jesuit mission. The pope praised “the many efforts of the Church, beginning three and a half centuries ago, to bring the Gospel of Christ into the lives of the native peoples of North America.”
Much has changed in the 38 years since that first papal visit. When Pope Francis touches down in Edmonton on Sunday, it will be the beginning of a five-day visit that will likely be much more sombre than John Paul’s 1984 tour. Francis’s first public appearance will be at a former Indian Residential School, where he is expected to expand on a personal apology he made to an Indigenous delegation that travelled to the Vatican earlier this year.
The Conversation Canada has devoted a lot of coverage to the role of churches in the residential school tragedy and we have several stories in the works for the pope’s upcoming visit. In the meantime, to help readers understand the importance of the expected apology, I’ve assembled some stories that look at the issue from different perspectives.
Have a great weekend and we’ll be back in your Inbox on Monday.
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