Walking Together. A Semiotic Analysis of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Journey to Canada as a Multimodal Construct

Intercultural and interreligious dialogue and the importance of nurturing memory as an antidote to social inequalities and conflict are known to be at the center of Pope Francis’ pontificate. A salient and particularly significant moment is undoubtedly represented by the Pontiff’s apostolic journey to Canada (July 24 to July 30, 2022), described as a “penitential pilgrimage” to “implore from God forgiveness, healing and reconciliation” for the suffering inflicted by the policies of assimilation and enfranchise- ment. Starting from these premises, this paper examines the semiotic articulation of the apostolic journey, understood as a complex multimodal construct made up of a multiplicity of languages, symbols, texts and discourses, to account for its symbolic efficacy, within the framework of the distinctive traits that characterize the figure of Francis, intend- ed as a peculiar charismatic leader. It is against this backdrop that the paper will examine, in addition to official texts and speeches of Francis’ apostolic journey to Canada, gestures and behaviors that proved capable of generating wide interest in the media and public opinion, helping to deepen the semiotic analysis of an “apostolate of the ear”, focused on the importance of “listening with the ear of the heart”. Using the approach of structuralist semiotics in dialogue with the semiotics of culture, the article sets out to demonstrate how the penitential pilgrimage proves to be a paradigmatic case of a process of memory reactivation aimed at strengthening intercultural dialogue, where the possibility of shaping a collective actant capable of overcoming the wounds of a trauma long kept silent can only be based on overcoming the separation between cosmology and theology.