Martine St-Victor: Why I am excited about the Pope’s visit to Canada

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When white smoke billowed from the Vatican chapel in 2013, signaling that a new pope had been elected, it was almost immediately clear that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, would be different from his predecessors.

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At first, the big difference was in the details. Before Francis, Benedict XVI wore flashy red custom-made loafers. In contrast, Pope Francis opted for simple black shoes that indicated not just simpler style but substance guided by humility.

It is the kind of humility that we expect from Pope Francis, the kind that he has shown for the last nine years. We will certainly get to see him up close when he visits Canada next week. His trip will take him to Edmonton, Iqaluit and Quebec City. In his most recent radio address, Pope Francis described his impending trip to Canada as a pilgrimage of penance.

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has shed a stark light on past atrocities inflicted on students in our country’s residential school system. Finally, the victims and their families can no longer be ignored. The repentance that Pope Francis referred to is something that the Roman Catholic Church should have shown long ago. In its report, the commission made it one of the necessary steps to healing, one that members of indigenous communities have long deserved.

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Will the long-awaited apology from the Pope be enough to erase the pain and violence? Of course not. But it feels like a step in the right direction and one that places him in a select club of heads of state capable of recognizing wrongdoing and apologizing for it.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been ridiculed many times for his tears and apologies to various communities that have been wronged by Canada. There was a apology for decades of systematic oppression of members of the LGBT communityand to Canada rejects a ship of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. This month, Trudeau apologized for the racism suffered by an all-black unit of Canadian soldiers in World War I.

Can you imagine making fun of someone for apologizing or showing emotion? I prefer a leader who is strong enough to be sensitive to one who is too weak to even try.

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Pope Francis has shown that strength by addressing emblematic issues of the times, even if they don’t fit the agenda of the most conservative wing of the Roman Catholic Church. Climate change, the distribution of wealth, equity, social justice, dialogue between religions and inclusion, in particular on the place of homosexuals in the church, have been on the agenda of this pontiff.

He is a master of communication who has not been shy about confronting some of the church’s shortcomings. Using today’s most efficient communication tools, from his podcast to Instagram, Pope Francis shares his message with as many people as possible to build bridges and display a measure of transparency and proximity that is atypical for a Pope. . Due to his efforts, I believe that the official mea culpa that he is willing to utter cannot be interpreted as anything other than a genuine gesture of remorse. As a Catholic, I need to believe it.

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An apology is not enough to make me forget what the Church has done and what it has covered up, but it can certainly serve as a reminder that without contrition there can be no forgiveness, and without forgiveness there can be no healing. But it will be up to the indigenous communities themselves to decide how to respond, and I will follow their example.

Pope Benedict may have appeared on Esquire magazine’s best dressed men list in 2007, but Francis has made it to TIME magazine’s most influential list. And in a way, that’s reassuring. What has been celebrated is a man trying to correct some mistakes, a trend better than any kind of fashion.

Martine St-Victor is the general manager of Edelman Montreal and a media commentator. instagram and Twitter: martinmontreal