John XXIII And John Paul II Become Saints

Pope Francis made history on Sunday, elevating to sainthood John XXIII and John Paul II, two of his most famous papal predecessors, in a ceremony bearing themes of hope and reconciliation for the world’s one billion Roman Catholics.

With crowds filling St. Peter’s Square and spilling out across Rome, Francis presided over an elaborate Mass beneath drizzly skies, canonizing the two towering figures of 20th-century Catholicism, men who also hold very different legacies in the church.

Francis, who made the decision to hold the joint canonization, portrayed the two former popes as “men of courage” who shared a place in history.

“They were priests, bishops and popes of the 20th century,” he said in his homily. “They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful; faith was more powerful.”

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Never before had two popes been canonized at the same time, and the pairing attracted large, joyous crowds tramping through Rome, with many people waving flags or banners. Francis declared the two men saints shortly after the Mass began, a pronouncement greeted with rising applause from the square and followed by the presentation of relics linked to the two new saints.

St. Peter’s Square was packed with tourists and pilgrims on Friday ahead of the canonizations of John XXIII and John Paul II on Sunday.

Credit Stefano Rellandini/Reuters

Notable among the cardinals and political leaders seated near the outdoor altar was Benedict XVI, the former pope who has remained largely out of the public eye since his historic resignation last year. His decision to step down led to the papal election of Francis.

Many people also came from John Paul’s native Poland, where he is a hero for his fight against Communism.

“It’s a very special day for every Pole, in particular for young people for whom John Paul II meant a new history, for our country and for Europe, as well,” said Lucasz Novak, 38, who came from northeastern Poland on a seven-day tour of holy sites in Italy.

“For Poland, it’s a holy moment,” he said from St. Peter’s Square, as he used his smartphone to listen to a live broadcast of the celebration on Vatican Radio’s Polish channel. “For Catholics all over the world, it’s a holy moment. We could not not be here.”

For Francis, who has emerged as a major global figure after only a year as pope, the canonization ceremony offered a stage to underscore his broad agenda of trying to bring together different Catholic factions as he prepares for two major meetings in which prelates are expected to address some of the most contentious social issues facing the church.

In the days before the ceremony, however, Vatican officials had sought to dispel the political subtext of the event — that the two former popes are icons to different constituencies within the church, and that by canonizing them together, Francis was making a political statement as well as a religious one.

John XXIII is a hero to many liberal Catholics for his Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s, which sought to open the church to the modern era. John Paul II is a hero to many conservative Catholics — not only for his anti-Communist heroism and personal charisma, but also because of his resistance to liberalizing elements of the church.