Overview

• A World Mission Day Mass in St. Peter’s Square formally declared seven new saints under Pope Leo XIV.
• José Gregorio Hernández, Venezuela’s “doctor of the poor,” was canonized after Pope Francis approved an exception from his hospital room based on widespread veneration.
• Peter To Rot became Papua New Guinea’s first saint, a lay catechist killed under Japanese occupation in World War II for defending Christian marriage.
• The roster also includes Archbishop Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan, Mother Carmen Rendiles Martínez, Sister Vincenza Maria Poloni, Sister Maria Troncatti, and convert Bartolo Longo of Pompeii.
• Large crowds traveled to Rome while Venezuelans gathered at public viewings in Caracas, with the celebration cast as a national lift during a prolonged economic crisis.