講話の中で教皇はまず、カナダ訪問は「民族の文化と誇りを消し去ろうとする（カナダ政府とそれに協力したカトリック教会の）試みに苦汁を味わわされ続けた先住民の方々への癒しと和解のための”悔悛の巡礼”でした」とされた。
そのうえで、このような不正行為は、「カナダの教会の多くの関係者が協力し、政府の資金による、悪名高い『寄宿学校制度』のもとでなされました」と指摘。特に不正行為の中心となったケベック州のエドモントン、そしてヌナブト準州の州都イカルイトへの訪問の体験を思い起こされた。
（以下、翻訳中）
A ‘penitential’ visit like no other
The Holy Father said it was “a visit like no other.”
“In fact, the main motivation was 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.”
In this sense, the Pope explained, his journey “was undertaken in Canada to write a new page,” and continue to walk together, always closer, with the indigenous peoples.
The Pope pointed out how apropos the motto of ‘Walking Together’ was for the Journey.
Repentance and reconciliation
Much analysis, the Pope suggested, “shows that, on the one hand, some men and women of the Church have been among the most decisive and courageous supporters of the dignity of the indigenous peoples, coming to their defence and contributing to raising awareness of their languages and cultures.”
“But, on the other hand,” he added, “there was unfortunately no shortage of those participated in programmes that today we understand are unacceptable and contrary to the Gospel.”
In this sense, he reiterated, this visit was penitential, and even if there were many joyful moments, “the meaning and tone of the whole was one of reflection, repentance and reconciliation.”
Rejecting mindset of colonization and promoting indigenous
In Edmonton, he said, there was an honest and sorrowful remembrance of the past, which continued in Quebec with “a plea” for reconciliation born of hope through Christ, and concluded, in Iqaluit, with confident trust in the “healing” made possible by the power of the Risen Lord to make all things new.
The Church’s desire, as it explicitly acknowledged the wrongs of the past–the Holy Father suggested, rejects the mindset of colonization, and esteems and promotes the indigenous cultures.
Pope Francis concluded by praying, “May the fortitude and pacific action of the indigenous peoples of Canada be an example for all originary peoples not to close themselves up, but to offer their indispensable contribution for a more fraternal humanity, that knows how to love creation and the Creator, in harmony with creation, in harmony between you all.”
* (“Enfranchisement” was the process of changing the civil status of Indigenous peoples from “Indians” to full Canadian citizens – a process of assimilation that often came at the expense of their indigenous identity. Originally voluntary, enfranchisement became compulsory in 1876 and remained so into the 1960s.)
