At a Mass in an Edmonton football stadium on July 26, Pope Francis told a congregation of 50,000 people that “we are children of history.”

The Pope combined the feast of St. Joaquin and Anne with the theme of his “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada, speaking in his homily about the importance of “a history that needs to be preserved,” saying that we should honor our ancestors and safeguard “this treasure that we have inherited.”

At the same time, the Pope continued, while we should revere what our parents and grandparents have passed down to us, “we are authors of a history yet to be written.” During his visit to Canada the Pope has spoken frequently about the value of traditions—particularly the traditions of the country’s indigenous peoples. But now he warned: “Let us not transform it into ‘traditionalism.’”