“If you’re for climate justice, say ‘AMEN!’” was the chant as young people led a protest marching through the Brunnen exhibition zone at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Karlsruhe, Germany on September 2, 2022.

“The protest was organized by people from around the world,” said Helena Funk of Germany, one of the organizers. “They were all different ages, from a variety of confessions.”
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In a process described as, “a journey of walking together, praying together, and working together,” Dr Agnes Abuom, WCC moderator, began the second business plenary with a review of the assembly decision-making process. “The decisions of the assembly are expressed through the final reports of the assembly committees,” she said, noting the distinction between earlier messages and final messages, which are expected to come to assembly next week.

During the plenary, the assembly received the second report of the nominations committee. At the time of the report, over 163 nominations had been submitted for 150 seats on the WCC central committee, with more nominations still expected. Part of the work of the nominations committee will be to ensure a balance of representation with respect to youth, gender, lay, as well as Indigenous persons and persons with disabilities.
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On a glorious Friday morning, the prayer tent at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe burst with enthusiastic singing of hymns, liturgical responses and praise songs in German, English, Spanish, Arabic, Maohi, Estonian, and Xhosa.

“Christ’s love moves us to love” was the theme of the service of morning prayer on 2 September. Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) provided a narrative core to the devotions. Jesus told the parable after being asked, “Who is my neighbour?” In response, he spoke of solemn religious officials neglecting an innocent traveler who had been physically assaulted and robbed. Once the self-professed holy people had passed by, a Samaritan stopped, took him to shelter and paid to have his wounds tended. Which of these, Jesus asked, was the traveler’s neighbour?
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War in Ukraine, church dialogue, and humanitarian response were in sharp focus on third day of the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly. Church leaders from Ukraine together with heads of ecumenical organisations emphasised the need for reconciliation, unity, and peacebuilding.

The Europe plenary held on 2 September in Karlsruhe was rooted in the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10, reflecting the context of Christ’s compassionate love.

“For more than three centuries, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union has tried to erase the uniqueness of Ukrainian people,” said Archbishop Yevstratiy of Chernihiv and Nizhyn from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. “But, we are successfully fighting for our freedom, for our independent future.”
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Reformed participants at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly gathered Thursday evening to hear about the work of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), share concerns and priorities, and bless WCC General Secretary-elect Jerry Pillay.

“The Communion is alive and active,” said Philip Vinod Peacock, executive for justice and witness as part of the Collegial General Secretariat (CGS). He presented the WCRC’s upcoming activities to the several hundred people gathered, also noting that the next General Council will be held in 2025 in Thailand.
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“One in every eight persons you meet at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly is likely to be a Lutheran,” said The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Anne Burghardt at the opening of a Lutheran confessional meeting at the 11th World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly in Karlsruhe earlier this week.

Lutherans from churches all over the world came together for the meeting to share their joys, concerns, and hopes and reflect on the assembly theme from a perspective of Lutheran churches and theology.
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As Canadian parishes take up Pope Francis’ challenge to incorporate reconciliation into the life of the Church, particularly as we get closer to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, there are liturgical options available for Sunday morning Masses in all kinds of parishes.

“Sept. 30 we could certainly justify a land acknowledgement as a bare minimum,” St. Joseph’s College liturgy professor Fr. Warren Schmidt told The Catholic Register.
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1st September press conference at the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly drew diverse questions from journalists directed at three panelists who celebrated the earth’s gifts as the Season of Creation opened—but tempered the joy by warning that those gifts will perish if people don’t draw together globally.

Joy Kennedy, moderator of the WCC working group on climate change, offered a very personal perspective on why we should all care about the future. “I’ve been with the WCC climate change working group for many years. I’m a grandmother and I focus on intergenerational justice because climate change is affecting everyone—but more so particularly affecting those who are young and to yet born,” she said. “As a grandmother, I feel we must change our way of living on this planet so we have a survivable future.”
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Opening to the sounds of nature reverberating through the speaker system, World Council of Churches 11th Assembly delegates took part in the first thematic plenary, “The purpose of God’s love in Christ for the whole of creation – reconciliation and unity,” on 1 September, the first day of Season of Creation.

Throughout the session, the image of a cedar tree from the Middle East, embraced and hugged by children from different parts of the world, was present on the main screen. Plenary moderator, Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the WCC central committee, explained how cedar trees are known for their strength and resilience. “They remind us of the bonds of our life over generations,” she said.
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Opening the first business plenary of the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly on 1 September, WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom acknowledged the contributions of three former WCC general secretaries, as well as acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, and general secretary-elect Dr Jerry Pillay.

She acknowledged former general secretaries, Rev. Sam Kobia (Methodist Church of Kenya), Rev. Prof. Dr Konrad Raiser (Evangelical Church in Germany), and Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, presiding bishop of the Church of Norway, referring to them as “stalwarts of the movement,” adding that “we have drawn a lot of knowledge from you in our work.”
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In the midst of the Ecumenical Youth Gathering (EYG), a group of young people from around the world have organized a strike for climate justice.

In the midst of the Ecumenical Youth Gathering (EYG), a group of young people from around the world have organized a strike for climate justice.

“It’s very important for me to raise awareness about climate change,” said Subin Tamang, a 25 year-old from Nepal. “I see the effects in my country.”
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Recalling believers’ mandate to act as stewards and beneficiaries of God’s creation, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly gathered in morning prayer on the first day of September, the Orthodox Day of Prayer for Creation and the start of an ecumenically observed Season of Creation. At the heart of the liturgical action was a combining of vessels of water from each inhabited region of the earth, a “gathering of the waters” reflecting the earliest act of creation in Genesis 1:9.
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September 1 marks the beginning of the Season of Creation, five weeks in the liturgical calendar recognized by the fellowship of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and, since 2015, by the Catholic Church. It is an especially religious demonstration of concern for the planet and for threats to the survival of Earth as we know it.

The agenda of WCC assembly events on September 1 also highlights the WCC’s emphasis on Climate Justice. In an interview prior to the Assembly, Rev. Prof Dr Ioan Sauca, WCC acting general secretary, explained that the climate “is a theological issue. God’s plan in Christ was also the reconciliation and healing of the whole creation.”
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Pope Francis, sent greetings to the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly as it opened.

The Pope wished the representatives of the churches at the 31 August to 8 September assembly “a meaningful and fruitful meeting that deepens and strengthens the bonds of communion between the Churches and the ecumenical organizations present.”

The pontiff said in advance greetings that he has a “pastoral interest in the work of the Assembly.”

Pope Francis also noted that the Catholic Church has sent “delegated observers” to WCC assemblies since the WCC 3rd Assembly took place in New Delhi in 1961.
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His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew offered greetings and a pointed message to the delegates and participants at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany.

He began his remarks with the teaching and the belief that “the light of Christ shines more brightly than any darkness in our hearts and in our world,” offering this idea as the underlying premise to the theme of the assembly, that “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

Yet, we have fallen short of this ideal, he suggested. Asking each of us the question, “how can we reconcile our magnificent faith with our manifest failure?”
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As the bells of Karlsruhe, Germany rang out across the city, thousands of Christians gathered on Wednesday, 31 August in the prayer tent at the heart of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Representatives from each of the eight geographical regions in which the WCC is active brought gifts and concerns reflecting their own cultural and historical contexts. The international congregation prayed in thanksgiving to God, adding their expectation for the coming nine days of the Assembly, “We share the hope of meeting each other in the warm embrace of Christ’s love that moves us to reconciliation and unity.”

Solemn observance was interpreted through colour, movement, words, sights and sound drawn from the breadth of the global Christian movement. Ancient liturgical chants, hymns, traditional dance and modern song stirred believers. The opening prayers noted the contemporary setting of this assembly, lamenting, “We share the burden and the pain of this time of the Covid pandemic. We share the burden and the pain of armed conflicts and their consequences in deaths, destruction and forced migration. We share the burden and the pain of the pre-existing plagues of injustice, structural poverty, violence and a creation that suffers. We bring to you the memory of the victims of all these pandemics.”
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The Rev. Mary Chipoka, 37, ordained pastor from Zimbabwe, faces much adversity because of her gender, and because she is deaf.

Back home, Chipoka preaches and teaches in sign language and is an advocate for women in leadership in churches. Though her role is one of teaching and administration, Chipoka wants people to know that she is also a worshiper. Her love for singing is often met with surprise because of her disability. She uses her hands as a voice unto God, often proclaiming through song, “I praise the Lord my Savior for the wonderful gift of life he has given us.”
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The World Council of Churches 11th Assembly began its assembly in the German city of Karlsruhe on 31 August, with Dr Agnes Abuom opening the gathering, her last as moderator.

Abuom, moderator of the WCC central committee, started the session on 31 August, calling for a minute of silence by paying tribute to the late Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, who died on 1 June while he was vice moderator of the central committee.

Abuom has served as moderator since 2013.
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Karlsruhe, a city built over 300 hundred years ago without walls, open to friends and guests — at a time where other cities still hid behind their fortifications — welcomed people from all over the world to four pre-assemblies that are bringing forward powerful calls to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Indigenous Peoples, the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, the Just Community of Women and Men, and the Ecumenical Youth Gathering were the fora for in-depth analysis and debates on issues challenging the global family of churches represented in the WCC.

All the pre-assembly participants gathered together in a closing session on August 30 to share highlights from the messages each is taking forward to the Assembly.
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As the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly opened on 31 August in Karlsruhe, Germany, WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared a report that touched upon the climate crisis, COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and many other challenges in the world.

“In responding to the hardships of our times, we need one another, we depend on one another, and we can advance only if we walk together, not in separation,” he said. “Therefore, I would dare to say that if the WCC did not exist, we would have to invent or reinvent it today.”

Sauca’s report showed the breadth of the WCC’s work related to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, the climate crisis, racial justice, the wounds caused by the war in Ukraine and other conflicts in the world, and advancing human rights in the Holy Land.
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World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Dr Agnes Abuom called on assembly delegates to “let Christ’s love move us,” as she delivered her opening report at the WCC 11th Assembly on August 3st.

Abuom reflected on the challenges facing members since the last assembly eight years ago and shared her hopes for this assembly. “At its best, the assembly is a spiritual celebration of the power of God’s love to renew our minds and hearts so that we may become a countercultural force driven by solidarity with the most vulnerable people and God’s creation,” she said.

“Listen carefully to youth among us,” urged Abuom, noting that many young people are anxiously struggling as they voice their fears about justice, peace, and the future of the planet. “They are the generation that is experiencing the first catastrophes of climate crisis and the last generation that can take any action to stop global warming.”
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“Although many of you are asking us to expel the delegation of the Russian Church, we have decided that the World Council of Churches is a free space for dialogue, and we need to find a way for them to agree, not disagree.”

The above was stated at the inaugural press conference for the 11th session of the World Council of Churches held in Karlsruhe, Germany, by the General Secretary of WCC, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Saucă.

As Saucă pointed out, the war between Russia and Ukraine is a “shadow” over the conference.
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For the first time in more than 50 years, the Assembly of the World Council of Churches is convening in Europe again. It is therefore both an honour and a delight for me as Federal President to extend a warm welcome, also on behalf of our country, to all of you who have travelled from all corners of the globe to come to Germany.

This is the first time that the World Council of Churches is meeting in Germany. We are most grateful that you have accepted the invitation to come here and hope that we will be good hosts. This event is intended to be a celebration of faith, of interaction, of exchange. It is rare for us to host guests who are so different but who are nonetheless connected by a deep sense of unity. A very warm welcome to you all!
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An opening press conference for the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly was held on 31 August as the assembly began in Karlsruhe, Germany. Hundreds of media representatives were present both in person and online to listen to and interact with a panel comprised of WCC leadership and local hosts.

Among the panellists for the press conference were Dr Agnes Abuom,  moderator of the WCC  central committee; H.E. Metropolitan Prof. Dr Nifon of Targoviste, vice moderator of the WCC central committee; Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, vice  moderator of the WCC central committee, WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca; Bishop Petra Bosse-Huber, Evangelical Church in Germany, moderator of the local host committee; Bishop Prof. Dr Heike Springhart, Protestant Church in Baden, moderator of the local host committee; and Dr Frank Mentrup, mayor of Karlsruhe.
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During the World Council of Churches (WCC) Indigenous People’s Pre-Assembly, Prof. Anne Pattel-Gray shared the reflections below.

What spoke to you during this pre-assembly?

Prof. Pattel-Gray: The importance of recognising Indigenous people speaks to the integrity of the WCC to ensure a continuing platform for the voices of First Nations People—to not only be heard but to also participate, and to have the opportunity to share our theological views and social-political struggles with each other.
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At the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe Germany, Jackcilia Salathiel Ebere will be carrying the voices of women from South Sudan who are crying for peace and justice.

Ebere is the national women coordinator at the South Sudan Council of Churches, an ecumenical grouping of seven member churches and associate churches, including the Roman Catholic, Episcopal (Anglican) and Presbyterian churches.

Ebere, a human rights lawyer, stresses in an interview that women are the victims in the country’s civil war, interethnic violence, and widespread insecurity.
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How do we – as Christian world communions – define the goal of visible unity for our churches? Can we find a way forward, walking together towards a shared vision? Or do we “simply fall back and expect the other to look like us?”

Those were key questions posed by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Anne Burghardt to Anglican bishops and representatives of other Christian world communions gathered at the 15th Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England.

Under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, over 650 Anglican leaders, as well as bishops in full communion from across the globe, are meeting from 26 July to 8 August. Reflecting on the theme ‘God’s Church for God’s World: walking, listening and witnessing together’, they are discussing the mission and the priorities of the worldwide communion for the next decade.
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The headlines were always likely to be: “Archbishop validates Lambeth 1.10” — but that’s only part of the story, the Bishop of Monmouth, the Rt Revd Cherry Vann, said on Thursday, at the Lambeth Conference.

One of the joys of the Call on Human Dignity on Tuesday, she said, had been the recognition, for the first time, that countries across the world were in very different places over human sexuality. “Justin very clearly said that to bless civil partnerships and gay marriages, in most parts of the Anglican Communion, would mean the end of the Church, because there would be no credence or credibility whatsoever.

“Similarly, if in the West we were not to do that, exactly the same thing would apply. I think that, for the first time, that is being publicly acknowledged by someone of Justin’s standing.
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When Pope Francis gave his first full-length interview after his election in 2013, he was asked about the importance of the church providing solid points of reference in a rapidly changing world. The new pope pulled out his thumb-worn breviary and read out a Latin quote from a fifth-century French monk.

Highlighting the words of St. Vincent of Lérins, Pope Francis raised a curtain onto his pontificate: presenting a little-known but once highly influential theologian whose name and citations would soon appear in a number of papal speeches, documents and interviews over the next decade.

The pope’s favourite quote? That Christian doctrine should follow the true and legitimate rule of progress, so doctrine may be “consolidated by years, enlarged by time, refined by age.”
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In his opening keynote address at the Lambeth Conference July 29, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby encouraged bishops from around the world to look beyond the internal conflicts that divide the church to the challenges facing the world as a whole.
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Pope Francis on July 29 said that the Catholic Church’s treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada amounted to a cultural “genocide” and warned against a colonialist mindset that continues to view Native peoples and customs as “inferior.”

Francis said that “taking away the children, changing the culture and mentality” and erasing “an entire culture” was effectively a “genocide.”

The pope’s remarks came during an inflight press conference en route back to Rome after his July 24-29 trip to Canada, where he apologized on multiple occasions for the abuse that Indigenous children suffered at Catholic-run residential schools, as well as for the church’s adoption of policies that stripped away Indigenous culture.
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The heart of Pope Francis’ “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada has focused on his personal closeness to indigenous peoples and his request for forgiveness for the disasters wrought by the colonial mentality that sought to eradicate traditional cultures, including through the dramatic experiment of residential schools desired by the government and run by Christian churches.

Encounters with indigenous peoples marked every stage of the trip and were quite moving. The understandable focus on the suffering endured by indigenous people and the journey of reconciliation undertaken have overshadowed some valuable insights scattered throughout Pope Francis’ speeches, which offer useful paths for evangelization today in every corner on earth.

After saying he felt ashamed of what happened when believers “became worldly, and rather than fostering reconciliation, they imposed their own cultural models,” the Pope went on to emphasize that “this attitude dies hard, also from the religious standpoint.” He thus shifted his reflection to the present day, drawing on the events of the past. That is, it is a mentality that is still present.
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They marched up the hill wearing vestments of all styles and colors and speaking an array of languages from around the world. They laughed, sang and danced as they climbed the bleachers and lined up in rows, from shortest to tallest. And then, after some final adjustments and one fainting spell, the last one took her seat and there they were: the bishops of the Anglican Communion.

The portrait of all 650+ bishops in attendance is a tradition dating back to the first Lambeth Conference in 1867. That first portrait, showing a small group of white men in black suits, is unrecognizable from the one taken on July 29 on an athletic field at the University of Kent, under a blazing sun.
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In a brief protest at a papal Mass in Canada, Indigenous women unfurled a banner that said, “Rescind the Doctrine.”

The protest July 28 was a momentary but graphic reminder of how, when representatives of Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities met Pope Francis at the Vatican in March and April, they asked him specifically for a formal repudiation of the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery.”

The phrase describes a collection of papal teachings, beginning in the 14th century, that blessed the efforts of explorers to colonize and claim the lands of any people who were not Christian, placing both the land and the people under the sovereignty of European Christian rulers.

The loss of the land, language, culture and spirituality of the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the foundation of the residential school system all can be traced to the doctrine, Indigenous leaders told reporters after their meetings with the pope.
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Meeting Indigenous survivors of residential schools in Canada, Pope Francis entrusted them and the journey of truth, healing and reconciliation to three women: St. Anne, Mary and St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

“These women can help us to come together and start to weave anew a reconciliation that can uphold the rights of the most vulnerable in our midst and look at history without resentment or forgetfulness,” the pope said July 29, his last morning in Canada.

Before heading to the airport for a three-hour flight to Iqaluit, Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic, Pope Francis met with two dozen survivors of residential schools from across Eastern Canada. Organizers said they included people from the Algonquin, Mohawk, Cree, Innu and Mi’kmaq nations.
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On the final day of Pope Francis’ pilgrimage of penance, one of healing and reconciliation, he says it is he who has been “enriched” by the experience.

“Now that I am nearing the end of this intense pilgrimage, I want to tell you that although I came with these desires (for healing and reconciliation), I am now returning home greatly enriched,” the Pope told a gathering of some two dozen residential school survivors at the residence of Cardinal Gerald Lacroix in Quebec City this morning. Reporters were present for the beginning of the meeting but were asked to leave following the formal speeches to allow the Pope to speak in private with the survivors.

“I bear in my heart the incomparable treasure of all those individuals and peoples who have left a mark on me; the faces, smiles and messages that remain with me; the unforgettable stories and natural beauties; the sounds, colours and emotions that touched me deeply.”
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If Canadian Catholics were looking for a roadmap to reconciliation, Pope Francis laid it out for them at a vespers prayer service in Quebec City’s exquisite Notre Dame Basilica Cathedral on a rainy Thursday evening.

As is typical of Pope Francis’ preaching, he laid it out in three parts — three challenges to the Church in Canada. Canada’s Catholics must find a way to make Jesus known, become credible witnesses to the Gospel and seek out genuine fraternity with others. None of those three priorities for a reconciling Church has anything to do with a negative, judgmental, condemnatory, defensive, narrow, navel-gazing version of Christian life, he said.
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In the face of sin and failure, the temptation to wallow in despair and do nothing comes from the devil, Pope Francis said on Thursday.

While commentators, politicians and survivors discussed whether Pope Francis’s apology for the Catholic Church’s role in running residential schools was enough, the Pope insisted that reconciliation requires faith, action and the courage to move forward.

“The enemy wants to paralyse us with grief and remorse, to convince us that nothing else can be done, that it is hopeless to try to find a way to start over,” he said during Mass at the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.
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From across the 165 countries of the Anglican Communion, bishops are gathering in Canterbury today to pray, study scripture, discuss global challenges and seek God’s direction for the decade ahead.

The Lambeth Conference 2022, which runs until August 7, is only the 15th such global gathering of Anglican bishops in 155 years.

The event was postponed from 2020 because of the Covid 19 pandemic and takes place against a backdrop of global uncertainty – including the climate emergency, war and poverty.

Taking as their theme “God’s Church for God’s World”, the bishops will spend time praying and studying the Bible together (focussing on the book of 1 Peter) as well as discussing major challenges faced by their global communities – ranging from climate change and scientific progress to Christian Unity and inter-faith relations.
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A highly anticipated statement from the Lambeth Conference on same-sex marriage acknowledged that the Anglican Communion remains divided on the issue, and did not come out in support of one side or another.
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A selection of news articles and photos from Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Canada’s Indigenous peoples.
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When busloads of residential school survivors, elders, knowledge keepers and youth descend on Edmonton and Quebec City to be present as Pope Francis walks on his “penitential pilgrimage,” Cynthia Bunn will be among them. But she didn’t want to be.

The third-generation residential school survivor from Sagkeen First Nation had to be persuaded by St. Boniface Archbishop Albert LeGatt. A member of the parish council at St. Alexander Church, Bunn initially agreed only to co-ordinate Sagkeen’s contribution to the 56 survivors, knowledge keepers and their care-givers from seven First Nations going from St. Boniface to Edmonton. But the archbishop dropped in on Bunn to plead with her.

“But you’re the co-ordinator. I need you there,” Bunn recalled LeGatt saying. “So I reluctantly decided to go.”
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Nine months after Canada’s Catholic bishops committed to it, the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund is up and running.

With $4.6 million in the bank so far, the $30-million Fund’s all-Indigenous national board of directors approved its first project on July 15.

The first project funded will be the Cote Culture Camp in Saskatchewan, northeast of Regina. The language- and land-based camp in Kamsack is operating from July 18 to 22, putting “children and youth in practical touch with their language, ceremonies, history and heritage through land-based instruction and continuing language classes,” said Archdiocese of Regina spokesperson Eric Gurash in an email.

The Archdiocese of Regina has committed $15,000 of its $2 million in pledged IRF funds to support the Cote Culture Camp. So far, the archdiocese has collected $1.53 million towards its $2 million IRF goal.
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Next week, when the leader of the Roman Catholic Church visits Amiskwaciy Waskahikan (meaning Beaver Hills House), the traditional meeting ground for many Indigenous communities, including Cree, Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, Blackfoot and Métis people, members of the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton will be present.

A small delegation from the Edmonton diocese, led by the Ven. Travis Enright, Archdeacon for Indigenous Ministries, and the Rev. Canon Dr. Scott Sharman, Ecumenical and Interfaith Coordinator, has been invited to witness the Pope’s visit to the former Ermineskin residential school in Maskwacis. In addition, a larger delegation of ecumenical partners will attend the papal mass at Commonwealth Stadium.

Edmonton will serve as the home base for Pope Francis during his visit to Western Canada, taking place July 24-27, 2022. According to the organisers of “Walking Together” (papalvisit.ca), it is an opportunity for the Catholic Church to “strengthen its efforts to listen to, talk with and learn from residential school survivors, their families and their communities, and offer an apology for the role it played in the residential school system.”
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Pope Francis’ July trip to Canada was born out of his meetings with the nations’ Indigenous people and was planned around encounters with them, and if the pope’s words “have value elsewhere,” like throughout the Americas, all the better, said the director of the Vatican press office.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, briefed reporters July 20 about details of the pope’s visit to Canada July 24-29. He said the pope planned to deliver his nine speeches and homilies in Spanish during the trip.

Asked if the choice of Spanish was meant to send a message to other Indigenous peoples of North and South America, who often suffered the same forms of colonization, Bruni said Pope Francis would be speaking to the people he met, but he also knows that his words can offer solace to other Indigenous people and a challenge to the broader society.
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Teeing up the historic Papal Visit to Canada from July 24-29, Salt and Light Media Foundation unveiled a 59-minute documentary entitled Walking Together on July 17, chronicling the landmark meetings hosted at the Vatican between Pope Francis and representatives of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples in March and April.

Fr. Alan Fogarty, SJ, CEO and executive producer of Salt + Light Media, said his team’s passion to record this momentous summit kindled instantly after the news came out that ambassadors from the Assembly of First Nations, Métis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami would travel to Rome.

“In the initial discussions when the news was coming out, we looked at ourselves and said, ‘where should we be? What should we be doing? What can we document in a way that will be helpful?’ This [documentary] is the best use of our resources as something that will help the Indigenous, the Church, the people of Canada and the Canadian government,” said Fogarty.
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In the days between March 28 and April 1 of this year, a delegation of representatives of the Indigenous peoples of Canada traveled to Rome with some of their bishops for several meetings with Pope Francis. He promised to travel personally to Canada later this summer to continue the dialogue in their “Indigenous territories.”

During the concluding meeting, the pope said, “it is my hope that our meetings during these days will point out new paths to be pursued together, will instill courage and strength, and lead to greater commitment on the local level. Any truly effective process of healing requires concrete actions. In a fraternal spirit, I encourage the Bishops and the Catholic community to continue taking steps toward the transparent search for truth and to foster healing and reconciliation. These steps are part of a journey that can favor the rediscovery and revitalization of your culture, while helping the Church to grow in love, respect and specific attention to your authentic traditions. I wish to tell you that the Church stands beside you and wants to continue journeying with you. Dialogue is the key to knowledge and sharing, and the Bishops of Canada have clearly stated their commitment to continue advancing together with you on a renewed, constructive, fruitful path, where encounters and shared projects will be of great help.”[1]

In these pages we will attempt to briefly outline the context of the journey of truth and reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples of Canada, in which the pope is intensely engaged, alongside the Canadian Church.
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The Indigenous Reconciliation Fund Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the Fund is officially accepting proposals and distributing funds for projects in support of healing and reconciliation. Projects are determined locally in consultation with First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples, and the first proposal received approval on July 15, 2022.

The Fund has already collected $4.6 million from Catholic dioceses across the country, as part of a nationwide commitment to raise $30 million over the next five years. Project proposals from Diocesan / Regional Reconciliation Committees are being presented to the Fund, as part of an effort to support and encourage local collaboration between Catholic entities and Indigenous partners. All applications for funding must first be submitted through local Diocesan / Regional Reconciliation Committees.

“The Indigenous Reconciliation Fund is a critically important effort in support of the path of healing and reconciliation between the Catholic Church and Indigenous Peoples,” said Chief Wilton Littlechild, Chair of Board. “We are pleased with the progress made to date, and are looking forward to distributing funds as quickly as possible in support of reconciliation projects across the country”.
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Asking for prayers ahead of his visit to Canada July 24-29, Pope Francis described the trip as a “penitential pilgrimage” as part of a commitment to healing and reconciliation with the country’s Indigenous people.

“Unfortunately, in Canada, many Christians, including some members of religious institutes, contributed to the policies of cultural assimilation that, in the past, have severely harmed native communities in various ways,” the pope said July 17, referring particularly to the involvement of dioceses and religious orders in running residential schools.

From the 1870s to the 1990s, the Canadian government, usually in partnership with Christian churches, operated a residential school system to which over 150,000 First Nation, Métis and Inuit students were sent. Their language and customs were banned, and they often suffered malnourishment and physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
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Ten days after saying he would name two women to the group that helps him choose bishops, Pope Francis appointed three women to the office.

The Vatican announced July 13 that the pope had named 14 new members of the Dicastery for Bishops.

For the first time ever, the members include women: Sister Raffaella Petrini, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, who is secretary-general of the office governing Vatican City State; French Salesian Sister Yvonne Reungoat, former superior general of the order; and Maria Lia Zervino, an Argentine who is president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations.

The dicastery is led by Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet and is responsible for helping the pope choose bishops for Latin-rite dioceses outside of the church’s mission territories. Members meet twice a month to review dossiers submitted by Vatican nuncios about potential candidates and to vote on the names they recommend to the pope.
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