The 37th foreign trip of Pope Francis began on the morning of Sunday, July 24. Arrival in Edmonton, Canada is scheduled for 19:20 Italian time. In six days, he will visit Edmonton, Moscow, Quebec and Iqaluit, covering a distance of 19,200 km.
Jānis Evertovskis – Vatican
At 9:16 Ita Airways an airline plane Airbus A330 departed from Rome Fiumicino Airport. The landing in Edmonton is scheduled after a flight lasting about 10 hours, at 11:20 local time, and crossing the airspace of six countries – Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Iceland, the Danish island of Greenland and Canada.
Francis is the second pope to visit Canada. Saint John Paul II visited this country three times – in 1985, 1987 and 2002. He last participated in the World Youth Day celebration in Toronto.
Intimacy, forgiveness, reconciliation, brotherhood and hope – these will be the key words of this visit. Last Sunday, during the “Angel of the Lord” prayer, Francis called it a “pilgrimage of atonement.” He goes to Canada to meet and embrace the indigenous peoples there and to concretely affirm his closeness to them in this “healing path” initiated by the Catholic Church.
On the morning of Sunday, July 24, on the microblogging site Twitter, the Pope wrote: “Dear Canadian brothers and sisters, I come among you to meet the indigenous peoples. I hope that, with God’s grace, my pilgrimage of atonement will contribute to the path of reconciliation that has already begun. Please keep me in your prayers”.
The return to the Vatican is scheduled for the morning of July 30.
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