A pope came to Canada. Again. John Paul II alighted on Canadian shores three times – 1984, 1987, and 2002 – but no visit has been as electrifying, polarising and turbulent as Pope Francis’ recent pastoral “pilgrimage of penance.”

Swept up in a whirligig of conflicting narratives, political point-scoring, failed expectations, a soured Canadian public, anxious Catholics, and far from neutral nationwide media coverage, it seems a mite outrageous to say that it was a success, but it was precisely that.