Indigenous Canadians hope Pope Francis will do more than apologize

Indigenous Canadians hope Pope Francis will do more than apologize

Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier, a former chief of the Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, will be attentive to Pope Francis' words during his trip to Canada and to the church's actions in the wake of the historic visit. She'll also be watchful for one simple act.

This spring, Walker-Pelletier was part of the delegation of Indigenous Canadians who traveled to the Vatican and met the pope. While there, she gave Francis two pairs of small moccasins. "He knows he needs to bring them back when he apologizes here," the 68-year-old Walker-Pelletier told NCR.

"It's not about the moccasins. It's about the graves of the children who were never found, the kids who were abused, raped and died at residential schools, the babies who were incinerated." The shoes "are a symbol of the children who never came home," she said.

Read more of our reporting here.

More background:

• Francis' 37th international trip as pope is a high-stakes journey where the first hands he will shake will be that of Indigenous elders and survivors of residential schools.

• Damian Costello says that many Indigenous peoples want the pope to make a clear apology for what happened on Indigenous land and commit to action that promotes healing.

• You can follow along with all of our coverage of the papal trip to Canada here.

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Bishops conclude assembly with guidelines to better implement Laudato Si' in East Africa

Catholic bishops in Eastern Africa concluded a nine-day meeting focused on the "environmental impact on integral human development," saying environmental concerns in the region can be attributed to human behavior, and suggesting actions to increase awareness of how the climate crisis is affecting local communities and how they can better care for the environment.

The Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa 20th Plenary Assembly took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, July 10–18.

"Earth has been our home, but we have abused it, we have misused it and several adverse effects could be felt by the unpredictability of the seasons, the droughts, the cyclones, the floods," Bishop Charles Kasonde, AMECEA chairperson said, speaking to the media after the plenary's closing Mass.

Read more at EarthBeat.

More background:

• Meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, under the shadow of some of the worst recorded ecological disasters in the region, the bishops from the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa are examining ways to help communities that are struggling to adapt to the effects of a changing climate.

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More headlines

• "Aren't we supposed to be the good people? ... But our intent was so different than our impact." U.S. women religious look at the legacy of schools that were part of a federal policy attempting to destroy Native culture.

• The sense of "community" in the U.S. is broken in two, writes Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister. How can a nation, an institution, a people, a family function well without the sense of community that carries us through dark and dangerous times?

• ICYMI: Religious superiors in the Philippines have vowed not to back down from taking a strong stance against government mismanagement and corruption despite a political threat of being labeled "communists."