Pope Francis devoted his public audience on Wednesday, August 2, to a report on his trip to Canada, saying that it was “unlike the other journeys” because it was intended as a penitential act.

His goal in traveling to Canada, the Pope explained, was “to to meet the indigenous peoples to express to them my closeness and my sorrow, and to ask for forgiveness-– to ask for forgiveness-– for the harm done to them by those Christians, including many Catholics, who in. the past collaborated in the forced assimilation and enfranchisement policies of the governments of the time.”

The Pope expressed regret that many Catholics had “participated in programs that today we understand are unacceptable and also contrary to the Gospel.”