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Memory, Healing, Reconciliation: Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to Canada
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The ITA plane with Pope Francis, his entourage and accredited journalists on board took off at 9:16 a.m. on Sunday, July 24, 2022, from Fiumicino Airport, heading for Edmonton Airport, where it landed around 11:20 a.m. Thus began Pope Francis’ trip to Canada, the second largest country in the world, about 10 million square kilometers in size but inhabited by only 38 million people.

Canada is a composite mosaic of peoples, religions and cultures from different origins, gravitating around two major cultural and linguistic areas linked to the history of its colonization: the Anglophone and Francophone. Already inhabited by indigenous peoples, Canada was settled by the French and English in the early 17th century. France ceded much of its territory to the United Kingdom in 1763, following its defeat in the Seven Years’ War in Europe and the Franco-Indian War in North America.

Canada was born in 1867 with the union of three colonies in British North America. The 1931 Statute of Westminster sanctioned Canada’s independence within the Commonwealth. Since 1993 a number of agreements and treaties have been signed in response to requests from Indian tribes for autonomy: First Nations (representing the predominant indigenous community of Canada, in the southern part of the nation’s territory); Métis (the mestizo descendants of the union between natives and Europeans located in the westernmost part of Canada); and Inuit (who inhabit the Arctic zone).
© Union of Catholic Asian News 2022
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