People waiting for an apology from Pope Francis for the Catholic Church’s role in sending aboriginal children to residential schools will have to keep waiting.

Apostolic Nuncio to Canada Luigi Bonazzi was in Saskatoon on Friday afternoon to attend a conference on restorative justice in Canada.

Earlier this summer, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its groundbreaking report, which chronicled years of assimilation efforts and emotional, sexual and physical abuse of young children at the hands of the residential school staff. The report called for a papal apology from Pope Francis for the church’s role in residential schools, similar to the apology delivered by former Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to worldwide survivors of sexual assault by disgraced priests.

“We have listened carefully, given serious attention, to this call for action,” Bonazzi said. “We are seriously trying to see how we can respond positively.”

Bonazzi said Pope Francis’s trips are projects which have to be planned and prepared far in advance. He said the request is not one that is easy to accommodate.

“We are trying to make the Holy Father be aware of these requests and to convey to him the deep meaning,” Bonazzi said.

Bishop Donald Bolen of the Saskatoon Diocese added the TRC’s findings were the subject of a great deal of discussion at the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops this year.

“Ultimately it’s not the Canadian bishops that will make a decision, it’s the Holy Father,” Bolen said, adding the church is taking the calls for action very seriously.

It’s a work in progress, and there is discussion about a papal apology, but there are no concrete plans to bring Pope Francis to Canada, he said.

“When we heard in the TRC process about the waves of suffering, we also heard about our (the church’s) involvement in that,” Bolen said. “The churches were implicated in a project of assimilation which was disastrous for indigenous peoples. We want to be part of the healing process.”

When Pope Francis met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Vatican nine days after the release of the TRC report, there was no mention of residential schools or an apology. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde issued a statement saying it was “deeply disappointing” that Harper missed an opportunity to help survivors in their healing journey.

Pope Francis has been invited to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017.