1) Indigenous groups keen to see Pope Leo continue reconciliation work

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Catherine Morrison, May 10, 2025

Pope Francis adjusts a traditional headdress he was given after his apology to Indigenous people as Chief Wilton Littlechild looks on during a ceremony in Maskwacis, Alta., as part of his papal visit to Canada on July 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Indigenous groups in Canada say they want to see Pope Leo XIV continue the reconciliation work started by his predecessor, the late Pope Francis.

Francis was recognized as an ally of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples and was known for advancing reconciliation efforts and apologizing — both in the Vatican and in Canada — for the Catholic Church’s role in widespread abuses at residential schools.

His visit to Canada in 2022 was described as a “penitential pilgrimage” as Francis insisted on meeting with Indigenous survivors of residential schools and hearing their stories.

Pope Francis also expressed a willingness to return colonial-era artifacts in the Vatican Museum that were acquired from Indigenous people in Canada.

National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who was in Rome for Francis’s funeral, said the late pontiff did “a lot of good things.”

Chicago-born Robert Prevost, who has chosen the name Leo XIV, is the first pontiff from the United States, though he worked for many years in Peru.

Woodhouse Nepinak said she welcomes Pope Leo and hopes he will be “open and receptive” to working together.

“I know that we have a lot of work to do but I think we can get there together,” she said. “I think the former pope had left lots of work undone and I think that we want to get back to that.”

Work on repatriating artifacts is “ongoing and we hope to have those discussions with the new Pope” and the Vatican, she said.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a national organization that represents over 65,000 Inuit in Canada, said on social media that it welcomes Leo’s selection.

“We look forward to continuing the productive work we have undertaken with the church on advancing reconciliation with Inuit,” the post says.

“And we hope that under his leadership, the Catholic Church will uphold and strengthen efforts to repatriate cultural heritage and support the priorities of Indigenous communities.”

The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, released in 2015, included a call to action urging the pontiff to travel to Canada to apologize.

Other calls to action included developing education strategies to ensure church congregations learn about their role in colonization, teaching the need to respect Indigenous spirituality and providing permanent funding for culture and language revitalization projects.

Woodhouse Nepinak said there must be an examination of Canada’s progress with the church on the calls to action, given that almost a decade has passed.

“We’re not doing as much as we should have and I think that we have to start measuring that,” she said.

Woodhouse Nepinak also said she hopes Pope Leo will come to Canada and meet with residential school survivors.

She added she is optimistic about his willingness to engage with Indigenous peoples, given his time in South America.

“Working in Peru, he would have been exposed to Indigenous culture, Indigenous ceremony, Indigenous ways of life,” she said. “I’m hoping that he would be open to seeing that here with First Nations in this country and meeting our residential school survivors to fully understand what they went through.”

About 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools in Canada. More than 60 per cent of the schools were run by the Catholic Church.

Neil MacCarthy, a spokesman for the Catholic archdiocese of Toronto, said he is “hopeful” that reconciliation work will continue, citing “huge strides” under Pope Francis.

“I think we have to acknowledge a lot was done,” said MacCarthy, who was involved with the Indigenous delegation to Rome in 2022 and the papal visit to Canada. “It was, I think, a whole new chapter, most would agree, in the relationship with the Catholic Church and Indigenous Peoples.”

MacCarthy suggested that moving these issues along will take time.

“Part of that is working with the bishops in Canada and others who’ve been part of this journey and will continue to be moving forward,” MacCarthy said. “I think we all recognize that it’s a journey that needs to continue.” — With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone, Brittany Hobson, Nicole Thompson, Cassandra Szklarski, Fakiha Baig, Nicole Winfield and The Associated Press

2) ‘DA POPE!’ Leo XIV’s Chicago roots unleash spate of holy humor

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Matt Sedensky, Published May 10, 2025

A Chicago-born cardinal walks into a conclave. The rest of the joke tells itself.

In the breathless day since Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first American pontiff, the memes, doctored images and tongue-in-cheek references have piled up deeper than Chicago’s pizza and more loaded than its hot dog, seemingly irresistible to comics and commoners alike.

Stained-glass windows depicting a dunking Michael Jordan? A change in canon law to make ketchup-topped frankfurters a sin? Cameos in “The Bear”? All of it apparently as tempting as the forbidden fruit.

“You just saw a billion jokes,” says Chad Nackers, who was raised Catholic and now presides as editor-in-chief of The Onion, the satirical site that heralded Robert Prevost’s elevation with an image of the smiling pontiff encased in a poppyseed-dotted bun.

“Conclave Selects First Chicago-Style Pope,” read the headline.

The pageantry of the church and the idea of a man who acts as a voice for God, Nackers says, combine for fertile humorous ground no matter the pontiff. Having him hail from the U.S., though, and a city as distinct as Chicago, opens up a whole new world of funny.

“It’s just kind of ripe for humor,” Nackers says.

“DA POPE!” blared the front of the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday, one of countless spins on the city’s unique accent, immortalized in “Saturday Night Live” sketches. No matter how Pope Leo XIV actually appears, in this realm of humor, he’s a mustachioed everyman who swaps his Ts for Ds and his zucchetto for a Bears cap.

With the Second City in the spotlight, more Chicago tropes were trotted out than even the famed namesake improv troupe could dream up. The popemobile traded for the Dodge Monaco made famous in “The Blues Brothers”? Check. Twists on city-set shows and movies like “Chicago Hope,” er, “Chicago Pope”? Yup. Dreams of Portillo’s Italian beef sandwiches and the Chicago liqueur Malört taking the place of the bread and wine of communion? Yes, chef. Over and over again.

In sports-loving Chicago, city teams were spun in a swell of papal humor. Initial belief that the pope’s baseball loyalties were with the Cubs led content creator Caitlin Hendricks to muse that Leo ironically hates the Cardinals. As it turns out, though, it appears the man in white roots for the White Sox.

It didn’t stop those in Wrigleyville from eating up pope memes and feeling hometown pride. At the Sports World shop, one woman came in asking for a Cubs jersey with Pope Leo XIV’s name splayed across the back. Down the street at Wrigleyville Sports, Chad Grant said he wouldn’t hate Leo for rooting for the Sox, but that “I just feel bad, because he’s been used to losing for a little while.”

Late-night hosts, too, had a ball with an American’s ascension.

Jimmy Fallon mused of “deep-dish communion wafers” from a pope known as “Bobby Bratwurst.” Stephen Colbert, a devout Catholic who performs in a studio with nearly as much stained glass to rival St. Patrick’s Cathedral, offered patriotic “Pope-S-A” chants and mentions of “da prayers” in thick Chicago tongue.

“I’m actually surprised by how excited I am,” Jimmy Kimmel said in his first monologue after the news. “An American who grew up here, watched all the shows we watched, rooted for teams, is now in Rome at the head of the church … this must have been what it felt like when they opened the first Olive Garden.”

More will come, a cascade of Ferris Bueller jokes and asides on canonizing Mike Ditka. There will be Oprah exuberantly shouting “You get a new pope! And you get a new pope!” And more memes of the pope in a dyed-green Chicago River or atop its shiny “Cloud Gate” bean than anyone can count.

“There’s just a lot of joy in the city right now,” says Ashley Lenz, a theologian in Chicago who works for the Catholic prayer app Hallow. “There’s a certain delight of seeing something sacred break into the ordinary. The idea of a pope who’s stood in line at Portillo’s or cheered on the Sox makes it all feel closer to home. It makes the papacy feel human again.” ___ Associated Press writer Melina Walling contributed to this report from Chicago.

3) Carney travelling to Rome to join other world leaders at Pope’s inaugural mass

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Nick Murray, May 16, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to depart Canada Friday night for his first official trip to the Vatican, where he will attend Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass on Sunday.

Carney is a devout Catholic but was unable to attend Pope Francis’s funeral on April 26 because it fell two days before the federal election.

The inaugural mass, which serves as a swearing-in of sorts for a new Pope, is drawing many international leaders and Carney is expected to have bilateral meetings with several of them during the trip.

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, French Prime Minister François Bayrou and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are among those who have confirmed they’re attending. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prince Edward will also be in attendance.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak and Métis National Council president Victoria Pruden are travelling with the Canadian delegation.

Pruden is calling on the Vatican’s Amina Mundi Museum to return Métis cultural artifacts in its collection.

“We are asking the Vatican to work with Métis knowledge-keepers, historians and experts to identify which items in their collection belong to our people and to return them,” Pruden said in a media statement.

“These artifacts were taken during eras of profound injustice. Their return is an essential step in advancing reconciliation and repairing the deep harms caused by colonial policies, including the role the Church played in the residential school system.”

Indigenous leaders previously called upon the late Pope Francis to return the artifacts. In 2023 he promised to do so but it hasn’t happened yet.

Pope Leo, still new to the role, has not said yet whether he will honour that pledge.

In an address to diplomats posted by the Vatican Friday morning, Pope Leo reaffirmed the Church’s efforts to “reach out to and embrace all individuals and all peoples on the Earth” through peace, justice and truth.

“I believe that religions and interreligious dialogue can make a fundamental contribution to fostering a climate of peace. This naturally requires full respect for religious freedom in every country, since religious experience is an essential dimension of the human person,” he said.

“Without it, it is difficult, if not impossible, to bring about the purification of the heart necessary for building peaceful relationships.”

Woodhouse Nepinak said in a media statement Friday she welcomes the Pope’s message of “peace and bridge-building among all people.”

“I am honoured to attend the inaugural mass on behalf of First Nations across this country and repeat our invitation for His Holiness to continue the important work of reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, especially those who suffered the harms of residential schools,” she said.

The inaugural mass will likely be the first time Leo enters or leaves St. Peter’s Square in the “popemobile.”

Leo will also receive a fisherman’s ring in honour of Saint Peter, the first pope, which is made with gold and engraved with a boat and the new pope’s name. That ring will be destroyed when Leo either dies or resigns.

He will also receive a small strip of lambswool to be placed over his shoulders — a symbol of his role as a shepherd of the church’s flock.

Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are expected to attend the mass.

— with files from Alessia Passafiume and The Associated Press