Pope canonizes four, says being a saint is not for the weak, fearful

Published: 2006-10-16

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Presiding over the second canonization ceremony of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI honored two women and two men who demonstrated that becoming a saint is not for the weak and fearful. "The saint is that man, that woman who, responding with joy and generosity to the call of Christ, leaves everything to follow him," the pope said at the Oct. 15 canonization Mass in St. Peter's Square. Political persecution, poverty, suspicion and even opposition from church leaders were not uncommon in the lives of the four new saints: Mexican Bishop Rafael Guizar Valencia of Vera Cruz; Italian Father Filippo Smaldone; Italian Sister Rosa Venerini; and Mother Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind. Even in the midst of "trials and persecutions," the pope said, the new saints knew that following Jesus "truly guaranteed a happy existence and eternal life."

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