WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.
Thousands of worshipers are expected to gather inside an Edmonton soccer stadium Tuesday as Pope Francis celebrates a public mass.
The pontiff is expected to speak and give blessings during a mass at the Commonwealth Stadium where more than 65,000 people are expected to attend.
During the roughly hour-long ceremony, Francis will address indigenous groups, residential and school survivors, elders, knowledge conservators and Catholics.
The Mass will include Indigenous music and symbolism, and Indigenous community members from across Alberta and the Prairies will participate in various parts of the ceremony.
Francis is expected to arrive around 9 am and begin a “Tour among the people” in the Popemobile. This procession, accompanied by the sound of indigenous drums, will begin at Clarke Field before proceeding to the open-air stadium.
Francis will prepare for his speech inside a specially prepared sacristy room, known as the sacristy, before delivering Holy Mass at around 10:15 am.
The mass is expected to include a homily from the Holy Father and a speech from Archbishop Richard Smith. The First Reading will be proclaimed by an indigenous woman from the Enoch community, Pam Kootnay.
The mass is celebrated on July 26, the feast day of Santa Anna, grandmother of Jesus, a day that, according to the organizers, is a day of particular reverence for indigenous Catholics.
An overflow viewing area has been created at the adjacent Clarke Field to accommodate an additional 5,000 people.
Later, the pontiff is expected to travel to Lac Ste. Anne, northwest of Edmonton, to participate in the community’s annual pilgrimage.
The year Lac Ste. Anne’s pilgrimage has been held for more than a century, although halted due to COVID-19, and has long held significance for indigenous Christians. The Pope is expected to spend about an hour at the site on the first day of the four-day pilgrimage.
Francis’ participation in the proceedings is expected to begin around 5pm.
CBC News will carry both events live here and on CBC TV, CBC News Network, the CBC News app, CBC Gem, YouTube, CBC News Facebook, CBC Indigenous Facebook.
Francis began his week-long visit to Canada with a public address in Maskwacis, Alta. on Monday, where he apologized for the role of Christians in residential centers.
Francis traveled to the lands of four nations created to pray in a cemetery. Four chiefs then escorted the pontiff in his wheelchair to the ceremonial powwow grounds, where he offered a long-sought apology and was given a feathered headdress.
Francis said the forced assimilation of indigenous peoples into Christian society destroyed their cultures, separated their families and marginalized generations in a way that is still felt today.
“I’m deeply sorry,” Francis said, to applause from school survivors and indigenous community members gathered at the former residential school in south Edmonton.
The Pope said his apology is only the first step in making amends to Canada’s indigenous people and that a serious investigation must be done into the facts of what happened in the past.
“I humbly ask forgiveness for the wrong done by so many Christians against indigenous peoples,” Francis said near the site of the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School, now largely demolished.
His words went beyond his previous apology for the “deplorable” acts of the missionaries and instead took responsibility for the church’s institutional cooperation with the “catastrophic” assimilation policy, which the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation Canada said it amounted to “cultural genocide.”
More than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century to the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their home and culture.
On Wednesday, Francis will leave Alberta for Quebec City before traveling to Iqaluit.
Support is available for anyone affected by their experience in residential care or recent reports.
A National Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line has been set up to support alumni and those affected. People can access crisis and emotional referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.
Mental health counseling and crisis assistance are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by chat online at www.hopeforwellness.ca.