Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives to hold a Mass at Colombo's seafront Galle Face Green in Sri Lanka for the canonization ceremony of Joseph Vaz. Francis declared Vaz a saint at the start of the service today.

MADHU, Sri Lanka — Pope Francis traveled to the jungles of war-torn northern Sri Lanka today for a deeply symbolic show of solidarity with the victims of the country’s 25-year civil war and to urge forgiveness and reconciliation “for all the evil which this land has known.”

Thousands of people waving the white and yellow Vatican flags welcomed Francis to the Our Lady of Madhu shrine, which is revered by both Sinhalese and Tamil Catholics, as well as people of other faiths. No pope has ever traveled to the northern Tamil region, and Francis’ visit to Sri Lanka’s holiest Christian shrine — hours after canonizing the country’s first saint as a model for unity — provided a poignant backdrop for his calls for Sri Lankans to overcome their prejudices and seek pardon for the sake of peace.

“Only when we come to understand, in the light of the cross, the evil we are capable of and have even been a part of, can we experience true remorse and true repentance,” he said after setting free a dove in a sign of peace. “Only then can we receive the grace to approach one another in true contrition, offering and seeking true forgiveness.”

Tamil Tiger rebels fought a 25-year civil war to demand an independent Tamil nation after decades of perceived discrimination by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people were killed during the war. The government finally crushed the rebels in 2009.