Pope at Canonisation Mass: Saints keep light of faith burning

Screenshot showing St Peter's Basilica at the Mass today with pictures of the seven new saints.

Source: Vatican Media

Huge crowds gathered in St Peter's Square on Sunday when Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for the canonization of seven new Saints. During his homily Pope Leo reminded us of the need to pray to God fervently and trustingly, even as we face trials and tribulations.

The new saints include two Italian nuns: Maria Troncatti (1883-1969) a Salesian missionary in Ecuador for more than 40 years who died in a plane crash, and Vincenza Maria Poloni (1802-1855) who founded a community dedicated to the poorest people in the city of Verona.

There are two Venezuelan saints: José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros, (1864 - 1919) known as "the doctor of the poor," and María del Carmen Rendiles Martínez, (1903 - 1977) a religious sister born without her left arm who went on to found the Servants of Jesus in Caracas in 1965.

There are also two martyrs: Peter To Rot, a lay catechist martyred in Papua New Guinea during the Japanese occupation in World War II, became the country's first saint.

Ignatius Maloyan, an Armenian Catholic archbishop, (1869 - 1915) was executed during the Armenian genocide after refusing to convert to Islam. "I consider the shedding of my blood for my faith to be the sweetest desire of my heart," Maloyan said before his death. "If I am tortured for the love of him who died for me, I will be among those who will have joy and bliss, and I will have obtained to see my Lord and my God."

Probably the most well-known of the new saints in Italy, is Bartolo Longo, (1841- 1926) an Italian lawyer who abandoned his Catholic faith for Satanism before returning to the Church with zeal. After his conversion, Longo dedicated his life to promoting the Rosary and built the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, now one of Italy's most beloved Marian pilgrimage sites.

In his homily, the Holy Father reflected on Jesus' question about whether the Son of Man would find faith on earth when He comes again. The Lord's question, said the Pope, reveals that faith is the precious bond of love between God and His people.

"Today we have before us seven witnesses, the new Saints, who, with God's grace, kept the lamp of faith burning," he said. "Indeed, they themselves became lamps capable of spreading the light of Christ."

The Pope said the great "material, cultural, scientific, and artistic treasures" of our world are not to be undervalued, but noted that their true meaning is lost without faith.

A world without faith, added the Pope, would be filled with children without a Father, who would have no desire for life since there would be no hope left in their hearts for salvation.

For this reason, Jesus invites us to pray always, so that our bond of love with God may be sustained and our hearts may welcome His salvation.

"Just as breathing sustains the life of the body, so prayer sustains the life of the soul," he said. "Faith, in fact, is expressed in prayer, and authentic prayer lives on faith."

Pope Leo XIV noted that Christians often face two temptations when we pray. One temptation is to let the scandal of evil overcome us and lead us to think that God does not care for our plight. At other times, we are tempted to treat prayer as a command to God, as we seek to make Him act justly according to our interpretation of reality.

Jesus, said the Pope, frees us from both temptations through His prayer on the Cross asking that God's will be done.

When we wonder where God is acting amid trials, he said, let us transform this doubt into prayer, recognizing that God is present wherever people suffer.

"When we are 'crucified' by pain and violence, by hatred and war, Christ is already there, on the cross for us and with us," he said. "There is no cry that God does not console; there is no tear that is far from His heart."

Returning to Jesus' question if He would find faith on earth, the Pope invited Christians to embrace faith in every aspect of life, since faith sustains our commitment to justice and our desire for God's love to save the world.

In conclusion, Pope Leo prayed that the seven new Saints will assist us in our vocation to holiness. "Faith on earth," he said, "thus sustains the hope for heaven."

LINKS

Pope Leo's homily text: www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2025/documents/20251019-canonizzazioni.html

Watch the Mass on Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=j67uNKga4pU