Yes, the Pope is visiting Edmonton, the city where I live. And though it does not fit into any of my blog categories such as artsy or Camino or writing, I feel I cannot pass it by without a post, which I guess will find a home in Random! Thank goodness for the freedom of Random in our lives!
I mean if the Dali Lama or the sadly missed Desmond Tutu were in town it would call for a blog post. Pope Francis, won my heart and hopes for our world when he had just been elected Pope and he came out on the balcony of the Vatican to greet the crowd in St Peter’s square. Not to address them, but just to say a simple ‘Buona sera’ – good evening! And shortly after, sent them home and to make sure they included him in their bedtime prayers!
What a refreshing and simple human connection. So there he is with the hopes and dreams of so many people on his shoulder: to make things better, show the way and correct the sins of the past. A tall order.
There is energy and excitement in the city since Francis’ arrival. The first morning he was at Maskwacis, a First Nations community and the site of a former large residential school; in the afternoon, then a visit to an Indigenous Edmonton church. The next day, an open-air mass with 50,000 people. A visit to an ancient pilgrim site at Lac Ste-Anne. There are sightings and road closures and much TV coverage. It is a solemn reason for the visit, but there is excitement and festivity in the air!
The Pope is here in Edmonton at the invitation of Chief Willie Littlechild of the Ermineskin Cree Nation and other First Nation leaders to come and better understand the acute pain and dysfunction brought about by the Residential School system on indigenous children and their families and descendants. For the most part, these schools were run by the church. The churches are being asked to apologize and work to repair this damage. Other denominations are already at work on this, but the Catholic Church, the largest with the most schools, has been slow to react. Francis is expected to continue and enlarge on an apology he began in Rome. First Nation people expect an apology for the church as an institution, not just for the rotting apples among the nuns, priests, brothers and others responsible for the schools. And they want follow-up so that reconciliation can happen.
The Pope has been giving his speeches in Spanish. And then he stops for the translator. He speaks slowly and clearly, this has let me work on my Spanish. Quite pleased I could get quite a bit of it! Despite many ‘pido perdon’ I ask forgiveness, people are still waiting for an apology for the behaviour, culture and actions of the whole Catholic Church establishment.
And for me, there are strange moments: at the open-air mass, his speech/homily was all about family and the value of grandparents to children (It was Saint Anne and Joachim’s saint day, Mary’s parents, hence, Jesus’s grandparents). I kept waiting for him to say “but the children taken away to residential school were deprived of this love and care”, but it never came. It was like he lost a page of his homily.
Then another strange thing: the Eucharist prayers (the heart of the Mass when the bread and the wine for communion are sanctified) were all in Latin! It has been ages since Latin is used in the Mass. The use of Latin has become a rare and exceptional event. It is even against the rules without special permission. Talk about mysterious ways!
Now the Pope is off to Québec. It will be interesting to see what he says there. Will he expand on the apology? He is a lovely fellow, but will it just be more Latin and incense. I don’t want to sound like a complaining naysayer, but many expect more.
