Toronto: Pope Francis received a warm welcome when arrived in Canada for a week-long visit. Parishioners of Edmonton's Sacred Heart Church of First Peoples were celebrating Mass on Sunday when the Pope was joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's first Indigenous Governor General Mary May Simon at the airport in Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta in Western Canada.

The inculturated liturgy began with a smudging ceremony – an indigenous tradition that involves burning medicinal plants as a symbolic form of cleansing – and a procession including indigenous drummers. The Mass continued with indigenous music and parts of the Mass was said in the Cree language.

As he welcomed those present at the Mass, either in person or watching remotely on a feed broadcast throughout the country, Sacred Heart’s pastor, Fr Susai Jesu, OMI, reminded the faithful that “welcoming and inclusion” are at the heart of the community’s values.

The people of Sacred Heart are eagerly awaiting the Pope’s visit to the parish on Monday afternoon.

Father Bloom acknowledged the Church’s role in the history of the residential school system when the Church took part in practices that interfered with Indigenous parents' efforts to pass on “good things” to their children (a reference to Jesus’ words in the day’s Gospels).

By taking indigenous children away from their homes and families, they were denied the opportunity to pass on their language, wisdom, family life, land, spirituality and more.

For that, the Church asks forgiveness, he said, and he expressed his hope that walking together with Indigenous People, the Church would be able to contribute to a process of reconciliation that will bear fruit in the years to come.
dmonton is home to a large Ukrainian community, which is tended to by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Canada’s population is estimated to be 37 million with almost a million and a half of Ukrainian decent.

Their arrival in Canada dates back to some 130 years when they found their way to the country in order to escape poverty, overpopulation, starvation, and a lack of employment.

Bishop David Motiuk is Eparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton.

The Eparchy serves some 25,000 faithful in 81 parishes throughout Alberta and provides, spiritual, catechetical, counselling and sacramental care for families and individuals, as well as outreach programmes for the needy and marginalized.

Speaking to Vatican News’ Christopher Wells, the bishop said Ukrainians have “ingratiated themselves into the fabric of the Canadian mosaic,” and are accompanied by the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The bishop elaborated saying, Ukrainian Catholics now number some 100,000, and that figure has continued to grow in the last eight years, and especially as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Newcomers, he emphasized, are welcomed to Canada, and to their Church, and are offered support as they adjust to their new surroundings.