In Quebec, Pope Francis spent time meeting with Canadian government officials about the rights of Indigenous peoples, a substantial step in the at times tenuous relationship between the Holy See and Canada.

After a brochure that demonized traditions of the Oglala Lakota Sioux people was handed out to young people, tribal leaders took action, approving an ordinance that curtails Christian missions at Pine Ridge.

A group of elderly survivors of abuse at Newfoundland’s Mount Cashel Orphanage are finally receiving compensation ordered by a landmark ruling in 2020 that went against the Archdiocese of St. John’s.

Meeting Indigenous survivors of residential schools in Canada, Pope Francis entrusted them and the journey of truth, healing and reconciliation to three women: St. Anne, Mary and St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

“I would like once more to ask forgiveness of all the victims,” the pope said in a homily at Quebec’s Notre Dame Cathedral. “The pain and the shame we feel must become an occasion for conversion: Never again!”

I get the sense that a monumental moment in history “passed us by” this week when Russia announced on Tuesday that it would withdraw from the International Space Station before the end of the decade.

The image of Pope Francis, all alone on the side of the lake, imploring God for healing, will surely remain as an iconic image of this penitential pilgrimage.

Read the full text of Pope Francis’ homily at Lac Ste. Anne, a pilgrimage site in Alberta, Canada, long known as a place of healing among Indigenous Peoples.

“It was an achievement on the part of the Indigenous community to convince Pope Francis to come to a First Nation community and humble himself before survivors in the way he did,” Phil Fontaine said.

Pope Francis condemned Canada’s residential school system as “a deplorable evil” and asked forgiveness of the Indigenous Peoples for Christians participation in it.