Vatican City: Pope Francis departs from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on Sunday morning to begin his 37th Apostolic Journey abroad, which will see him embrace the people of Canada. Pope Francis’ A330 departed at 9 a.m. Rome time on July 24 and is scheduled to land in the western Canadian city of Edmonton at 11:20 a.m. The journey will take 10 hours and 20 minutes over 8,430 kilometers.

This is his second trip of 2022 outside of Italy; it will be centered around the Church’s process of penance and reconciliation with the indigenous populations of Canada. The pope is scheduled to travel to Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit, where he will meet with Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors

The papal plane, an Airbus A330-202 fitted by the Italian company ITA, will allow the Pontiff to make all of his trips in conditions adapted to his mobility problems – he is expected to appear most of the time in a wheelchair because of his knee pain.

He is scheduled to receive an official welcome to Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Salma Lakhani.

The Pope will then travel to St. Joseph Seminary and rest up from his long flight for the rest of the day. His first public encounters begin in earnest on Monday morning.

One week ahead of his departure, the Pope said at his Angelus address on 17 July that he is undertaking a “penitential pilgrimage” to Canada, in the hopes of contributing to the “process of healing and reconciliation with the country’s indigenous peoples.”

“Unfortunately, in Canada, many Christians, including some members of religious institutes, have contributed to the policies of cultural assimilation that, in the past, have severely harmed indigenous communities in various ways,” he said on that occasion.

On Saturday, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin echoed the Pope’s words in an interview with Vatican Media.

He said the Pope’s visit comes in connection with meetings held in the Vatican in March and April with representatives of indigenous peoples.

“I would say that closeness is the key word,” said Cardinal Parolin. “The Pope intends not only to speak words, but above all to draw near to, and manifest, his closeness in a concrete way. Therefore, he sets out to touch with his own hands the suffering of those populations, to pray with them and to make himself a pilgrim in their midst.”