Pope Leo XIV elevated seven men and women to sainthood at the Oct. 19 canonization Mass in St. Peter’s Square, where he commended their lives as witnesses to the light of Christ.
The Pontiff began his homily by reflecting on a question posed by the Lord in the Gospel reading for the day: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
“This question reveals to us what is most precious in the Lord’s eyes: faith, namely, the bond of love between God and man,” he said in the homily. “Today we have before us seven witnesses, the new Saints, who, with God’s grace, kept the lamp of faith burning. Indeed, they themselves became lamps capable of spreading the light of Christ.”
At the Mass, the Holy Father formally proclaimed the following holy men and women to be saints:
- Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan
- Peter To Rot
- Vincenza Maria Poloni
- Maria del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez
- Maria Troncatti
- José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros
- Bartolo Longo
Pope Leo used the occasion as an opportunity to reflect on the nature and importance of faith. Without faith, he said, man would lose all hope.
“Heaven and earth would remain as before, but there would no longer be hope in our hearts; everyone’s freedom would be defeated by death; our desire for life would fade into nothingness,” he said.
This, the Holy Father said, is why Christ told his Disciples to pray at all times but never to lose heart.
Pope Leo also discussed the parable Christ gave in the day’s Mass reading, that of the apathetic judge and the persistent widow. The judge eventually acts in favor of the widow because of her persistence.
“The woman’s perseverance and the judge, who acts reluctantly, set the stage for a provocative question from Jesus: Will not God, the good Father, ‘grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?’” he said.
The Holy Father encouraged the faithful to find God in suffering, remembering that Christ Himself suffered death on the Cross.
In his conclusion, Pope Leo spoke briefly about each of the new saints.
“These faithful friends of Christ are martyrs for their faith,” he said, “like Bishop Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan and catechist Peter To Rot; they are evangelizers and missionaries, like Sister Maria Troncatti; they are charismatic founders, like Sister Vincenza Maria Poloni and Sister Maria del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez; with their hearts burning with devotion, they are benefactors of humanity, like Bartolo Longo and José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros.”
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