Pope Leo XIV made headlines on Sunday by canonising seven new saints, including a former Satanic priest from the Church of Satan who found his way back to Christianity.
Bells chimed across St Peter’s Square during the ceremony where he canonised Bartolo Longo, a former occultist priest, along with a lay catechist from Papua New Guinea, an archbishop who lost his life in the Armenian genocide, a Venezuelan “doctor of the poor”, and three nuns who devoted their lives to helping the poor and sick.
Longo, who was once a Satanic priest, was an Italian lawyer born in 1841 and passed away in 1926. He eventually returned to Catholicism and went on to establish the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii.
“Today, we’re gathered here with seven witnesses, the new Saints, who, thanks to God’s grace, kept the lamp of faith shining bright,” Leo shared with an audience that the Vatican estimated to be around 70,000 people.
“I hope their intercession helps us through our challenges and that their example motivates us in our common journey towards holiness,” he mentioned during his homily.
As Leo, the first US pope, stepped out of St Peter’s Basilica, huge portraits of the seven were unfurled from the windows overlooking the square. He was dressed in a ceremonial white cassock and wore a mitre on his head, with bishops and cardinals in white following him.
Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, who heads the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Vatican’s department that handles beatification and canonisation, shared the profiles of the seven, and the crowd responded with applause.
So, with Leo reading the canonisation formula, they were officially declared saints.
During his homily, Leo talked about the new saints, calling them “martyrs for their faith”, “evangelisers and missionaries”, “charismatic founders” of congregations, or “benefactors of humanity”.
The canonisation ceremony was the second one for Robert Prevost since he took on the role of leader of the Catholic Church on May 8.
Last month, he declared Italians Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati as saints. Carlo, a teenager known as “God’s Influencer”, shared the faith online before passing away at just 15 in 2006. Pier Giorgio, who died at 24 in 1925, is seen as a true example of charity.
Canonisation is the last step on the journey to becoming a saint in the Catholic Church, coming after beatification.
There are three conditions that need to be met, and the most important one is that the person has to have performed at least two miracles. They need to have passed away for at least five years and should have lived a really admirable Christian life.
On Sunday, a few new saints were recognised, including Peter To Rot, a lay catechist from Papua New Guinea who was killed during the Japanese occupation in World War II.
There was also Armenian bishop Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan, who lost his life to Turkish forces in 1915, and Venezuela’s Jose Gregorio Hernandez Cisneros, a layman who passed away in 1919. The late Pope Francis referred to him as a “doctor close to the weakest.”
Maria Carmen Rendiles Martinez, hailing from Venezuela, was a nun who was born without a left arm. She didn’t let her disability hold her back and went on to establish the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus before she passed away in 1977. She’s the first woman to be named a saint in that South American country.
So, the Italian nuns who were canonised include Vincenza Maria Poloni, who founded the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy in Verona back in the 19th century. This institute mainly focuses on caring for the sick in hospitals. Then there’s also Maria Troncatti from the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.
Back in the 1920s, Troncatti made her way to Ecuador with the goal of dedicating her life to supporting the indigenous people there.
After the service, Leo was cruising around St Peter’s Square in his popemobile. He didn’t just stick to the square, though; he made his way down the Via della Conciliazione, which connects the Vatican to Rome. He stopped often to bless babies, delighting the thousands of well-wishers who had come out to see him.