Pope Francis Canadian Cardinals
Title: Pope, Canadian Cardinals meet amid calls for church to act on residential schools
Author: The Canadian Press Staff
Publisher: CTV News
Date: 05JUN2021
Pope Francis met with two Canadian Cardinals on Saturday amid mounting pressure on the Catholic Church to take responsibility for Canada’s residential school system, though it’s not known what was discussed.
No information was immediately available about why the Pope met with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, a top official in the Vatican’s migrants and refugees portfolio.The meetings were disclosed in the Vatican’s daily roster of papal audiences.Past appointment listings show Pope Francis meets with Oulette every Saturday, but meetings with Czerny are rare. The two last met on May 10, but Czerny’s name does not appear in previous agendas.The Vatican did not respond to request for comment on the meeting, and attempts to reach the cardinals were unsuccessful.The appointments came a day after nine United Nations human rights experts implored the Catholic Church, as well as Canadian authorities, “to conduct prompt and thorough investigations” into an unmarked burial site believed to contain the remains of 215 Indigenous children found at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.The Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation announced last week that ground-penetrating radar confirmed the findings.
No information was immediately available about why the Pope met with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, a top official in the Vatican’s migrants and refugees portfolio.The meetings were disclosed in the Vatican’s daily roster of papal audiences.Past appointment listings show Pope Francis meets with Oulette every Saturday, but meetings with Czerny are rare. The two last met on May 10, but Czerny’s name does not appear in previous agendas.The Vatican did not respond to request for comment on the meeting, and attempts to reach the cardinals were unsuccessful.The appointments came a day after nine United Nations human rights experts implored the Catholic Church, as well as Canadian authorities, “to conduct prompt and thorough investigations” into an unmarked burial site believed to contain the remains of 215 Indigenous children found at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.The Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation announced last week that ground-penetrating radar confirmed the findings.
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