Pope canonizes seven saints for the New Evangelization

Pope Benedict XVI has canonized seven new saints and prayed that their intercession may “strengthen and sustain” the Church “in her mission to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world.”

The Pope addressed a crowd of tens of thousands on a sunny, Oct. 21 Mass at St. Peter's Square, raising seven men and women to the altars.

Those included Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Marìa Carmen Sallés y Barangueras, Marianne Cope, Kateri Tekakwitha, and Anna Schäffer.

The Filipino delegation in honor of Pedro Calungsod was extraordinarily strong, as was the American contingent, here for the canonization of the first ever native American saint, Kateri Tekakwitha.


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