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Pope canonizes 815 saints

May 12, 2013

Pope Francis has canonized his first saints. Benedict XVI had approved the new holy figures during the same ceremony in February in which he announced he was resigning as pontiff.

https://p.dw.com/p/18WQd
Pilgrims gather in St. Peter's square at the Vatican on May 12, 2013, during the Canonization mass led by the Pope of Italian Antonio Primaldo and companions, Colombian Laura Montoya Upegui and Mexican Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala. Pope Francis created the first saints of his reign, canonizing some 800 Italian martyrs who refused to convert to Islam in the 15th century, as well as a Colombian and a Mexican who founded congregations.(Photo: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)
Image: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

Thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square to attend the service formally bestowing sainthood on the cobbler Antonio Primaldo and 812 other Italians killed in 1480 by Ottoman forces for refusing to convert to Islam. The Martyrs of Otranto, as the church calls them, were beheaded for their religious conviction.

The pope called the saints a source of inspiration for "so many Christians, who, right in these times and in so many parts of the world, still suffer violence" and prayed that current faithful would receive "the courage of loyalty to respond to evil with good."

Laura of Saint Catherine de Siena Montoya y Upeguila became Colombia's first saint for her work with indigenous people and for helping to create the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in 1914.

The pope praised the new saint for "instilling hope" in indigenous people in a manner that "respected their culture."

Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala earned her canonization by helping Catholics avoid persecution during a 1920s crackdown on the religion by the Mexican government.

The pope said Mother Lupita, as she is also known, could encourage people to not "get wrapped up in themselves, their own problems, their own ideas, their own interests, but to go out and meet those who need attention, comprehension, help."

Several Colombians and Mexicans attended the canonizations by Francis, the first Latin American pope.

mkg/rc (AFP, AP)