The power of faithfulness to Christ

On Sunday, 20 October, Pope Francis canonized 14 men and women during Holy Mass in Saint Peter’s Square. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, accompanied by the postulators, addressed the petitio to the Pope and briefly presented the life of the 14, among them two Italians; the 11 “Martyrs of Damascus” (Manuel Ruiz López, seven companions from the Order of Friars Minor, and lay Maronites Francis, Mooti and Raphael Massabki); Joseph Allamano, founder of the Institutes of Missionaries and the Consolata Missionary Sisters; Marie Leonie Paradis and Elena Guerra, respective founders of the Congregations of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family and of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit, also known as “Sisters of Saint Zita”. Pope Francis then read the canonization rite in Latin, listing the names ...