My remarks regarding the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis:

DECLARATION OF THE HONORABLE MARK CARNEY 
PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA 

Today, I join Canadians and Catholics around the world in mourning the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome, a man of great moral clarity, spiritual courage, and boundless compassion. From all corners of the world, the prayers of believers accompany Pope Francis on his journey to eternal rest. 

Through his teachings and actions, Pope Francis has redefined the moral responsibilities of leadership in the 21st century. In his historic encyclical, "Laudato si'" (Praise be to You), he has raised "the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor," reminding us that environmental degradation and social injustice are deeply intertwined and require us to demonstrate, without delay, shared leadership. 

His vision of intergenerational equity was rooted in concrete calls to action, policy, and personal responsibility. I had the privilege of working alongside His Holiness and his team as part of his Council for Inclusive Capitalism, and I witnessed firsthand his unwavering commitment to placing human dignity at the center of our economic and political systems. 

During the Vatican meeting in 2014, titled "The Global Common Good: Towards a More Inclusive Economy," Pope Francis issued a challenge that has guided me ever since. He compared humanity to wine: rich, diverse, full of spirit, and the market to grappa: distilled, intense, and sometimes disconnected. He invited us to "retransform the grappa into wine," to reintegrate human values into our economic lives. 

His Holiness understood, and taught, that the value of the market should never overshadow the values of society. He showed us that we must not only measure what we value but also value what truly matters. 

During his visit to Canada and the apologies he offered to Indigenous Peoples regarding residential schools, His Holiness listened to survivors and their descendants recount how they experienced the legacy of this system, which inflicted deep and lasting pain upon them, and he took an important step towards accountability and healing on the shared path of reconciliation. 

He pushed the boundaries of the papacy to its limits, always attentive to the poor and the most vulnerable, as he did in all aspects of his lifelong mission. 

The spiritual and ethical legacy of Pope Francis will shape our collective conscience for generations. May we honor his memory by continuing to work towards a world that reflects the solidarity, justice, and sustainability that he so vigorously embodied. 

May he rest in peace.