Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, who served as director of the Holy See Press Office from 2006 to 2016, has written an article on the Pope’s upcoming apostolic journey to Canada.

“In reviewing these events [colonialism and the residential school system], we have encountered a great deal of suffering, first and foremost that of the indigenous peoples and of a great many students in the residential schools, victims of immense injustices and serious abuses, but also – in the background – that of so many people who have expended much of their strength with the sincere intention of serving the Gospel and the indigenous peoples,” Father Lombardi concluded.

“They now feel frustrated by very harsh criticism, which includes generalizations, which is also not just,” he continued. “We think that this is a penitential price, far from useless, to be paid in a journey of purification on the part of the Church … This is a journey for which many in the Church are working generously, with enthusiasm, constancy and dedication, and in which the Pope’s journey is proposed as a precious, encouraging step.”