Francis affirms at a mass in Edmonton for 50,000 people that the church should never “suppress the conscience of others”
Pope Francis took the first mass bath of his visit to Canada on Tuesday, where he will remain until Friday, with Mass he presided over at Commonwealth Stadium in Alberta’s state capital Edmonton. Some 50,000 people took part in the ceremony, including a broad representation of indigenous groups, as Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s stay in the North American country has as its main purpose the request for forgiveness from the indigenous peoples for the abuses during the evangelization. His history of “violence and marginalization” by Western colonization, he affirmed, “must not be repeated.”
After the ‘mea culpa’ he pronounced the day before during a meeting with leaders of the main Canadian indigenous communities, the Pope used the homily of the Eucharistic celebration in Edmonton, pronounced in Spanish, to continue the self-criticism for the role of the Catholic religion. He affirmed that the Church should never “suppress the consciences of others” nor “chain the freedom of those close to us”. It is an advice he gave to all believers and especially encouraged them to “respect the people who have gone before us and are entrusted to us, precious treasures that guard a story greater than themselves.”
Since this Tuesday was the feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim, parents of the Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus, and therefore Grandparents’ Day is celebrated, the Pope devoted much of his homily to this matter and once again invited one to not exclude people because they are functionally “not needed”. In the liturgy aided by the Archbishop of Edmonton, Richard Smith, because of his knee problems, the Pope wished for a future in which the worth of people is not judged “only by what they produce” and is not indifferent “to whom, already advanced with the age, need more time, listening and attention».
After recalling how our elders wanted a “more just, fraternal and supportive” world, he invited those in attendance to make their wishes theirs and try to “not disappoint them.” For this reason, he insisted on asking about the meaning of life, which is not based on “generative criteria” such as “the money earned, the career performed” or success and recognition in front of others. Instead, the goal should be to try to “generate life” by working for brotherhood and peace.
“The mystery of human life is this: we are all someone’s children, we are born and formed by someone, but as we grow up, we are also called to be someone else’s fathers, mothers and grandparents,” he said.
Bergoglio’s agenda on his third day in Canada concluded with a visit to Lake Santa Ana, west of Edmonton, which hosts one of the pilgrimages each year that brings together the most staunch Catholics in all of North America. This lake was already a sacred place for indigenous peoples before the arrival of European settlers.
Source: La Verdad
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