“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.

Celebrating the feast day of Jesus’ grandparents, Pope Francis not only urged people to honor their elders, but he asked them to think about what they will hand on to future generations.

“The ideal bishop does not exist,” Sister Reungoat said. But he has to be a shepherd who is “close to the people entrusted to him, he has to know how to involve priests, laity and religious, and people of different generations.”

Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington promulgated liturgical norms July 22 for implementing Pope Francis’ apostolic letter “Traditionis Custodes.”

From July 24 to July 29, Pope Francis will meet with Indigenous People in Canada to apologize and ask forgiveness, on their land, for abuses perpetrated in largely Catholic Church-run residential schools.

“We will not tire of emphasizing that the church in Germany will not follow a ‘German special path’,” said a joint statement by the Synodal Presidium, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference and ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp.