Pope Francis, who will visit Canada from July 24 to 30, spoke on Sunday of a “penitential pilgrimage” intended to “meet and embrace the indigenous peoples”, victims of violence perpetrated for decades in residential schools.

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"Next Sunday, God willing, I will leave for Canada," he said after the traditional Angelus prayer, in a possible allusion to knee pain that forced him to postpone another trip, to Africa.

This “penitential pilgrimage” will, according to him, “contribute to the journey of healing and reconciliation already undertaken” in Canada.

“Unfortunately, in Canada, many Christians, including some members of religious institutes, have contributed to policies of cultural assimilation which in the past have seriously harmed indigenous communities in various ways,” the pope said. Argentine.

In early April, Francis had already presented his “apologies” during an audience at the Vatican in front of Métis, Inuit and First Nations delegations, confiding his “sadness and shame” for the violence perpetrated.

Between the end of the 19th century and the 1980s, some 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly recruited into more than 130 residential schools across the country, where they were cut off from their families, language and culture.

Thousands never came back. The authorities estimate their number between 4,000 and 6,000. In 2015, a national commission of inquiry had qualified this system of “cultural genocide”.

For his 37th trip since his election in 2013, François will notably travel to Edmonton (Alberta), where he will meet members of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit delegations.