As the world awoke Monday morning to the news of Pope Francis’ death, Catholics in Alberta joined the faithful in mourning the 88-year-old pontiff’s passing.

“His legacy is the word ‘hope’ for everybody, Christian and non-Christian,” said Caesar Blanco as he attended morning mass at St. Mary’s cathedral in Calgary.

“He was a people’s pope,” added Andy Lok, as he arrived for mass at St. Joseph’s Basilica in Edmonton.

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However, for many Albertans, Pope Francis’ most enduring legacy will be his historic apology to Indigenous peoples for the generations of abuse and cultural assimilation forced upon them at church-run residential schools.

An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools — about 60 per cent of them run by the Catholic Church.

Survivors, for years, had asked the Church to apologize and that demand grew after the discovery of thousands of possible unmarked graves at the sites of numerous former residential schools where 4,120 children are estimated to have died.

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On July 25, 2022, thousands of dignitaries, Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors travelled from across Canada to the powwow grounds in Maskwacis, Alta., to hear Pope Francis deliver his apology on behalf of the Catholic Church.

“I’m sorry,” Francis said in Spanish. “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.”

2:26 Residential school apology a significant part of Pope Francis’ legacy

There was applause. Some cheered. Others wiped away tears. Some embraced the person next to them.

Chief Wilton Littlechild, a survivor and former commissioner with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, gave the pope a traditional headdress often reserved for First Nations chiefs.

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For many residential school survivors and their descendants, Pope Francis’ words were a critical step in the journey towards healing and reconciliation.

Gilday Soosay was one of those chosen to meet the pope.  “I told him that my heart was happy that he was here visiting our community.  I called it a miracle because Indigenous people held a lot unforgiveness toward the church and to the government in regards to the residential schools,” said Soosay.

The process towards the Papal visit to Canada was put in motion several months earlier when Indigenous leaders visited Pope Francis in the Vatican.

For Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, who accompanied them on the trip, the results of the visit personified the kind of pope that Francis was.

“I think that was certainly for us and for the world that watched it — it was one more example, a very strong example — of the concern that Pope Francis manifested really from the outset of his papacy for anyone who feels marginalized or hurt in need of healing. He was a strong, strong voice for the poor,” said Smith.

“He sat for a few days with the delegation of Indigenous peoples in his office, and he just listened. Just listened to them as they poured out their hearts, their stories — the sad histories that they were experiencing, either themselves or of their people — and it really, really impacted us.  I remember the Indigenous people saying, he really heard us,” added Smith.

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Francis’ visit — only the fourth ever by a pope to Canada — also included a holy mass at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton and a pilgrimage to a sacred site in Lac Ste. Anne, Alta., where he took part in a church service, wearing a red Métis sash around his neck.

On the pope’s flight home, it was another word he said that became momentous. When asked by a reporter if the abuse at residential schools amounted to “genocide,” Francis agreed.

Speaking through a translator, Francis said “to take away children, to change the culture, their mindset, their traditions , to change a race, an entire culture — yes, I (do) use the word genocide.”

Three years after Pope Francis’ visit, Chief Desmond Bull said the journey towards healing isn’t over, but there is deep gratitude for the pope’s words.

“I’m a product of the residential school systems, as my mother was in the school system, same with my grandmother — I’ve seen those impacts of trauma first hand.  So for me, I am grateful that he had done that, you know, and history books will recognize that.”

–with files from The Canadian Press.

0:43 Pope Francis says genocide happened at residential schools