VATICAN CITY
CP24
Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, June 11, 2015
VATICAN CITY, Italy — Prime Minister Stephen Harper raised the troubling findings of the residential schools commission during his unusually brief meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican Thursday, but appeared to have stopped short of inviting him to Canada to apologize.
Instead, Harper referred to letter sent earlier in the week to the Vatican by his aboriginal affairs minister that merely informed the Holy See of the commission.
“Prime Minister Harper also drew attention to the letter sent by Minister (Bernard) Valcourt to the Holy See regarding the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” Harper’s office said without elaborating.
Harper’s spokesman did not respond to a request for clarification.
Harper’s 10-minute meeting with the Pope Francis was unusually short by Vatican standards. Russian President Vladimir Putin had a nearly 50-minute private audience with the pontiff a day earlier.
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