Francis proclaims new saints during first canonisation ceremony of his Papacy

       
Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic church new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, as he led his first canonisation ceremony before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.       

The pope also gave Colombia its first saint - Laura of St. Catherine of Siena Montoya y Upegui, who journeyed with five other women on horseback in 1914 into the forests to be a teacher and spiritual guide to indigenous people.        

Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, was among VIPs attending the ceremony.          

Many Colombian pilgrims flocked to Saint Peter's to celebrate their country's first saint.                

"Saint Mother Laura was a tireless missionary, who was dedicated to evangelising and to teaching the spanish language to the natives", said Selmira Parra Montoya, a Colombian living in northern Italy.        

"All her life was dedicated to the poor and to the natives. We are very happy because it is our first saint from Colombia," she added.         

The first pontiff from South America also canonised another Latin American woman.          

Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, a Mexican who dedicated herself to nursing the sick, helped Catholics avoid persecution during a government crackdown of the faith in the 1920s.        

Also known as Mother Lupita, she hid the Guadalajara archbishop in an eye clinic for more than a year after fearful local Catholic families refused to shelter him.          

"The poor, the abandoned, the sick, the outsiders, are 'God's flesh', and Mother Lupita touched God's flesh, and she taught us the conduct of not  having concern, not having fear, not having repugnance when touching God's flesh," said Pope Francis, addressing the crowds in his native Spanish language.         

The "Martyrs of Otranto" refer to 813 Italians who were slain in the southern Italian city in 1480 for defying demands by Turkish invaders to renounce Christianity.         

"There are saints from the Americas but there are also more than 800 martyrs. It is a great joy for the Church", said Mother Stella, from Poland.      

"Because certainly we all should be saints, but it encourages us even more when we see that the Church takes care of all those who gave their life, with even more courage," she added.       

Francis told the crowd that the martyrs are a source of inspiration, especially for Christians, who, he said, still suffer violence."        

The new saints were all approved for canonisation in a decree read by Pope Benedict XVI on February 11 during the same ceremony in which he announced he was resigning as pontiff.            

Benedict, the first pope to retire in 600 years, is now devoting himself to prayer and living in a monastery on the Vatican grounds.


AP