Campaigning federal party leaders mark the death of Pope Francis

OTTAWA — Campaigning party leaders reflected Monday on the life and legacy of Pope Francis, worldwide leader of the Roman Catholic Church for 12 years.

The pontiff died Monday at age 88, the Vatican said.

Nearly 11 million Canadians identified as Catholic in the 2021 census, including both Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

In a lengthy statement, released in his capacity as prime minister, Carney praised Pope Francis for redefining “the moral responsibilities of leadership in the 21st century” and for his work on climate action and social injustice.

“His vision of fairness between the generations was rooted in concrete calls for action, policy and personal responsibility,” Carney wrote.

The pope’s death raises questions about whether Carney will leave for the funeral in Vatican City later this week — removing him from the road during the final days of the election campaign.

The funeral for a pope traditionally takes place between the fourth and sixth day after his death.

Neither Carney’s campaign nor the Prime Minister’s Office would immediately confirm whether he would attend, but PMO spokesperson Emily Williams said Canada’s representation at the funeral “will be announced in due course.”

Carney has had to make several detours to Ottawa during the campaign to deal in his capacity as prime minister with various trade-related crises brought about by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a statement of his own on the pontiff’s death, Poilievre wrote that the pope’s “humility, compassion, and steadfast faith had a profound impact on millions of Canadians and others around the world.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh wrote in a statement that the pope showed the world faith can be “a force for justice.”

All three party leaders took note of Pope Francis’s visit to Canada in 2022, during which he apologized to Indigenous Peoples for the legacy of residential schools.

That apology responded to one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.

The pope said he was sorry that some members of the Church participated in the abuse, cultural destruction and forced assimilation of Indigenous Peoples.

In his statement, Carney called the apology “an important step of accountability and healing on the shared path towards reconciliation.”

Poilievre’s statement said the pope’s penitential pilgrimage will be remembered, adding Francis “sought to begin a process of reconciliation by the Church with his apology ‘for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.'”

Many Indigenous people said the apology was necessary, while some said it didn’t go far enough because Francis didn’t identify the crimes and abuses that happened.

Singh noted in his statement that “for many survivors, this apology was not enough. For others, it was a step towards recognition of the harm and trauma they experienced.”

At his press conference Monday morning in Nanaimo, B.C., Singh said the pope’s apology was a powerful example of his leadership.

About 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were forced to attend residential schools over a century, and the Catholic Church ran about 60 per cent of the institutions.

Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May, who is Anglican, said in a statement on social media that “the human family has lost a great servant leader.”

“To his last breath he called for peace in Gaza, for human rights in the U.S.,” May wrote, noting that Francis also called for action against climate change.

Francis took a more nuanced view on LGBTQ+ people than some other religious leaders by allowing priests to bless same-gender romantic relationships, so long as that blessing did not resemble a marriage ceremony.

He was widely viewed as a progressive, something Singh took note of at his press conference.

“In this world where we’re faced with a lot of fear, a lot of worry, that kindness and compassion is really the powerful tool to build a better world,” he said.

Carney said Francis’s 2014 challenge to the world to “reintegrate human values in our economic lives” has guided him ever since.

At his press conference in Charlottetown, Carney said Francis taught “that value in the market must never eclipse the values of society.”

The death of a pope triggers a sequence of events that include the confirmation of death in the pontiff’s home, the transfer of the coffin to St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing, a funeral mass and burial.

After the funeral, there are nine days of official mourning, known as the “novendiali.”

— With files from Nicole Thompson in Toronto, Kyle Duggan in Ottawa and The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2025.

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press