Pope Francis on Sunday canonized hundreds of new saints. The
event took place in a packed St. Peters Square in the Vatican. Among those
chosen where 813 Italians popularly known now as the “Martyrs of Otranto. They
were Italians who were beheaded for not converting to Islam by the Ottoman
sultans in 1480.
Their approval for sainthood was decided upon by Francis' predecessor,
Benedict XVI, in a decree read at the ceremony in February where the former
pontiff announced his retirement.
Shortly after his election in March, Francis called for more dialogue with
Muslims, and it was unclear how the granting of sainthood to the martyrs would
be received. Islam is a sensitive subject for the church, and Benedict stumbled
significantly in his relations with the Muslim community.
The first pontiff from South America also gave Colombia its first saint: a
nun who toiled as a teacher and spiritual guide to indigenous people in the
20th century. With Colombia's President
Juan Manuel Santos among the VIPS, the Argentine pope held out Laura of St.
Catherine of Siena Montoya Upegui as a potential source of inspiration to the
country's peace process, attempted after decades-long conflict between rebels
and government forces.
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