Canonizing Holy Men and Women
Pope Francis canonized 942 saints during his papacy, which includes the 813 Martyrs of Otranto as a group. In his homilies at the Canonization Masses through the years, he always stressed that holiness can be attained in everyday life, and that it is not some sort of impossible achievement. He repeatedly said that the path to holiness is universal and begins at baptism.
Pope Francis canonized 942 saints during his papacy, which includes the 813 Martyrs of Otranto as a group. In his homilies at the Canonization Masses through the years, he always stressed that holiness can be attained in everyday life, and that it is not some sort of impossible achievement. He repeatedly said that the path to holiness is universal and begins at baptism.
“Holiness does not consist of a few heroic gestures, but of many small acts of daily love.” - Pope Francis
April 27, 2014 - Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II
“They were priests, bishops and popes of the 20th century. They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful.”
Sept. 23, 2015 - St. Junipero Serra in Washington, DC
“St. Junipero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it.” He was the first saint to be canonized on U.S. soil.
Sept. 4, 2016 - St. Teresa of Calcutta
“Her mission to the urban and existential peripheries remains for us today an eloquent witness to God’s closeness to the poorest of the poor.”
Oct. 14, 2018 - St. Pope Paul VI and St. Oscar Arnulfo Romero, along with seven others
“Jesus is radical. He gives all and he asks all: He gives a love that is total and he asks for an undivided heart.” All of the canonized saints “in different contexts, put today’s word into practice in their lives, without being lukewarm, without calculation, with the passion to risk everything. May the Lord help us to imitate their example.”
Oct. 13, 2019 - St. John Henry Newman
Quoting Newman, Pope Francis said: “‘The Christian has a deep, silent, hidden peace, which the world sees not … The Christian is cheerful, easy, kind, gentle, courteous, candid, unassuming; has no pretence…’ Let us ask to be like that, ‘kindly lights’ among the encircling gloom.’”
Oct. 9, 2022 - Giovanni Battista Scalabrini and Artemides Zatti
“Let us pray that these saints, our brothers, may help us to walk together, without walls of division; and to cultivate that nobility of soul, so pleasing to God, which is gratitude.”
