Pope Francis declared Eng-
land’s Cardinal John Henry
Newman (1801-1890) and
four women saints at the
beginning of a festive Mass in St. Pe-
ter’s Square, October 13, attended by
50,000 people from all continents.
The four women are: Italy’s Giusep-
pina Vannini (1859-1911), founder
of the Daughters of Saint Camillus;
India’s Mariam Thresia Chiramel
Mankidiyan (1876-1926), founder
of the Congregation of the Sisters
of the Holy Family; Brazil’s Sister
Dulce Lopes Pontes (1914-1992);
and Switzerland’s Margherita Bays
(1815-1879), a laywoman. The first
three spent their lives working for
the poor.
These canonization took place
while the Synod for the Amazon is
meeting in Rome and giving great
attention to the role women are play-
ing in the life of the churches in the
region’s nine countries.
It is also noteworthy that Pope
Francis, who has emphasized the
development of doctrine in his
magisterial teaching, has canonized
Newman, who wrote a major work
on that topic and contributed greatly
to the church’s understanding of that
area of theology.
The canonization took place at the
beginning of the sung Latin open-
air Mass. It began with the reading
of brief biographies of the five per-
sons by Cardinal Angelo Becciu,
the prefect of the Congregation for
the Causes of the Saints, who then
requested the pope to declare them
saints. Then, the Sistine Choir led the
singing the Litany of the Saints after
which Pope Francis read solemn for-
mula of canonization in Latin and
naming the five blessed said, “we de-
clare and define” them “to be saints
and we enroll them among the saints,
decreeing that they are to be vener-
ated as such by the whole church.”
The choir then sang a prayer with
the Alleluia refrain, and the tens of
thousands in the square from all con-
tinents applauded warmly.
