Pope Francis adds 14 saints during second canonisation mass of 2024

Pope Francis presided over the canonisation Mass of 14 new saints on 20 October.

They included eleven martyrs murdered in Syria in the 19th century, and three founders of religious orders.

“These new saints have lived the style of Jesus: service,” Pope Francis said in his homily. “The faith and apostolate they exercised did not nourish in them worldly desires and cravings for power, but, on the contrary, made them servants of their brothers and sisters, creative in good, steadfast in difficulties, generous to the end.”

Taking his cue from the Sunday Gospel passage from Mark, reports Vatican News, the Pope invited Christians to contemplate the profound questions Jesus asked the two disciples James and John: “What is it you want me to do for you?” and “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?”

These questions, highlighted Pope Francis, shine light on our hidden desires, and were intended to cast away any illusions of self-interest.

The Pope explained that through these questions, Jesus calls us to a deeper relationship with Him, adding that even James and John, though faithful disciples, approached Jesus with expectations rooted in worldly glory, seeking honour and positions of power.

They longed for a place at His right and left amid glory, seduced with images of a victorious Messiah who would reign with might. But, the Pope continued, their understanding was flawed.

“Jesus doesn’t stop at their request,” the Pope said, “He delves deeper, revealing the desires behind their words. He challenges them, as He challenges us, to see beyond human ambition.”

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Large portraits of the new saints were unfurled on the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica, reports Aleteia. The faces of the 11 “Martyrs of Damascus”, murdered in July 1860 in the Syrian capital by Druze, were flanked by images of the three founders of religious orders:

Canadian nun Marie-Léonie Paradis (1840-1912), founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family; Italian missionary Giuseppe Allamano (1851-1926), founder of the Missionary Institute and the Missionary Sisters of the Consolata; and the Italian nun Elena Guerra (1835-1914), founder of the Sisters of St. Zita, a congregation dedicated to the education of young girls.

Seated in the square were 65 cardinals, 200 bishop and 530 priests, who concelebrated the canonisation Mass, which was the second of the year. In February, the Pope declared the Argentinian Mama Antula (1730-1799) a saint.

The latest additions to the Church’s registry of saints bring the number of saints declared during Pope Francis’s pontificate to 926, the highest number named by a pope in history.

Photo: The facade of St. Peter’s Basilica bearing the images of the new Saints during the canonisation Mass, St Peter’s Square, the Vatican, Vatican City State. (Credit: Vatican News.)

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