Gov. Gen. Mary Simon will represent Canada on the funeral for Pope Francis on the Vatican on Saturday, says Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“I’m not going to be attending the funeral, given the … crucial election and sending the proper signal,” he said Wednesday during a campaign stop as Liberal leader in Victoria.
“We’re represented at the best level, appropriately so, and we may even have a senior delegation alongside” the Governor General, he said.
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office said the remainder of the delegation hasn’t been finalized.
The funeral will probably be held Saturday in St. Peter’s Square and will probably be attended by world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The archbishop of Toronto, Cardinal Frank Leo, said all five of Canada’s cardinals are expected to attend. Various bishops are also set to attend, as will Manitoba Métis Federation president David Chartrand.
Quebec’s International Relations Minister Martine Biron said she is going to represent the province on the funeral.
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“The vast majority of Quebec residents are Catholic. It’s a part of our history, our heritage,” Biron told reporters Wednesday on the national assembly.
Pope Francis visited Canada in 2022 for what he called a “penitential pilgrimage” to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role within the residential school system.
Simon, who’s Inuk, said recently that the apology was “a testament to his commitment to respect, dialogue and collaboration across cultures and faiths.”
In 2023, Canada sent Paul Gibbard, the top of its diplomatic mission to the Holy See, to attend the funeral of pope emeritus Benedict XVI, who made the rare move of retiring from the papacy in 2013.
In 2005, on the funeral for Pope John Paul II, Canada was represented by then-prime minister Paul Martin and opposition leader Stephen Harper. The then-national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, also attended.
The Vatican announced Monday that Francis had died of a stroke and heart failure at age 88.
His 12-year pontificate was characterised by his concern for the poor and his message of inclusion, but he was also criticized by conservatives who sometimes felt alienated by his progressive bent.
— With files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal and The Associated Press.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
