By Michael Swan
TORONTO, Canada, (The Catholic Register) – Hard truths and deep prayer marked the Metis delegation’s hour with Pope Francis, said bishops who were in the room when nine Metis elders and residential school survivors spoke with the Pope.
“A lot of hard truths were spoken, but they were spoken in a very gracious, poignant and eloquent way,” Regina Archbishop Don Bolen told dozens of journalists gathered at a Rome hotel and listening in on a live feed.
In French, Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops president Bishop Raymond Poisson said he witnessed a “heart to heart” exchange between the Metis delegates and Pope Francis. The exchange was filled with “mutual affection,” the bishop said.
“I will take these reflections with me in my prayer and also in my meditation,” said Poisson, switching to English.
Recalling the stories Metis survivors told Pope Francis in the first of three planned encounters between the Pope and Indigenous delegations in Rome brought Metis historian and educator Mitchell Case to tears. Case spoke of how the meetings and the coverage they are generating from Canadian and global press will validate Metis identity for the next generation, including his own nieces and nephews who are beginning to learn the Michif language that was suppressed at residential schools in their grandparents’ generation.
“Today is the beginning of something,” Case said, later adding “We’re going to work to make the world better for those little kids.”
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