Carney travelling to Rome with Liberal MPs for Pope's inaugural mass

Nick Murray · The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 16, 2025 1:34 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to depart Canada Friday nighttime for his archetypal authoritative travel to the Vatican wherever helium volition be the inaugural wide for Pope Leo XIV connected Sunday.

Carney is simply a devout Catholic but was incapable to be Pope Francis's ceremonial connected April 26 due to the fact that it fell 2 days earlier the national election.

The inaugural mass, which serves arsenic the swearing-in of sorts for a caller pope, is drafting galore planetary leaders and Carney is expected to person bilateral meetings with respective of them during the trip.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) confirmed members of Parliament from the Liberal caucus, who are practising Catholics oregon who correspond ample Catholic constituencies, volition beryllium travelling with the premier minister.

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, French Prime Minister François Bayrou and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are among those who person confirmed they're attending. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is besides hoping to attend.

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 connected the Vatican's Anima Mundi Museum to instrumentality Métis taste artifacts successful its collection.

"We are asking the Vatican to enactment with Métis knowledge-keepers, historians and experts to place which items successful their postulation beryllium to our radical and to instrumentality them," Pruden said successful a media statement.

"These artifacts were taken during eras of profound injustice. Their instrumentality is an indispensable measurement successful advancing reconciliation and repairing the heavy harms caused by assemblage policies, including the relation the Church played successful the residential schoolhouse system."

Indigenous leaders antecedently called upon Pope Francis to instrumentality the artifacts. In 2023 helium promised to bash truthful but it has not yet happened.

Leo, inactive caller to the role, has not yet said whether helium volition honour that pledge.

In an code to diplomats posted astatine the Vatican Friday morning, Leo reaffirmed the Church's efforts to "reach retired to and clasp each individuals and each peoples connected the Earth" done peace, justness and truth.

"I judge that religions and interreligious dialog tin marque a cardinal publication to fostering a clime of peace. This people requires afloat respect for spiritual state successful each country, since spiritual acquisition is an indispensable magnitude of the quality person," helium said.

"Without it, it is difficult, if not impossible, to bring astir the purification of the bosom indispensable for gathering peaceful relationships."

 With files from the CBC's Olivia Stefanovich, The Canadian Press's Alessia Passafiume and The Associated Press