As he greeted Pope Francis in Quebec on July 27, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated that while he was pleased the Pope had traveled to Canada to apologize for the Church’s role in residential schools, more concrete action from the Church would be required.

Speaking during a reception for the Pope with Canadian political leaders, Trudeau emphasized that he had traveled to Rome to urge the Pope to make his “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada. He praised the “courage and perseverance” of indigenous tribal leaders who also pressed their case at the Vatican.

Trudeau stressed the need for an apology for “the role that the Roman Catholic Church, as an institution, played in the mistreatment on the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse that Indigenous children suffered in residential schools run by the church.”