7 saints canonized during Mass in St. Peter’s Square

October 20, 2025

Pope Leo XIV canonized seven saints yesterday during a Mass attended by an estimated 70,000 people in St. Peter’s Square (video, booklet).

The new saints are

• St. Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan (1869-1915), the Armenian Catholic archbishop of Mardin (Turkey), who was falsely accused of hiding weapons, tortured, and martyred by Ottoman officials during the Armenian genocide
• St. Peter To Rot (1912-1945), a married catechist who kept the faith alive in what is now Papua New Guinea after Japanese forces occupied his island, imprisoned foreign missionaries, and reintroduced polygamy; the saint was martyred by Japanese officials after repeatedly denouncing polygamy
• St. Vincenza Maria Poloni (1802-1855), an Italian religious who co-founded the Sisters of Mercy of Verona, dedicated to care for the poor and the sick
• St. Maria Carmen Rendíles Martínez (1903-1977), a Venezuelan religious, born without one of her arms, who founded the Servants of Jesus of Caracas
• St. Maria Troncatti (1883-1969), an Italian Salesian sister and nurse who spent decades as missionary in Ecuador and died in a plane crash
• St. José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros (1864-1919), a Venezuelan physician and Third Order Franciscan known as “the doctor of the poor”; he died after being struck by a car
• St. Bartolo Longo (1841-1926), an Italian lawyer and Satanic priest who, after his repentance, ardently propagated the Rosary, founded the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei, and founded institutions for the care of orphans and the children of prisoners

“Today we have before us seven witnesses, the new Saints, who, with God’s grace, kept the lamp of faith burning,” Pope Leo preached during his homily at the Mass. “Indeed, they themselves became lamps capable of spreading the light of Christ.”

After reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading (Luke 18:1-8), the Pope concluded:

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith in God’s providence? Indeed, it is this faith that sustains our commitment to justice, precisely because we believe that God saves the world out of love, freeing us from fatalism. When we hear the cries of those in difficulty, let us ask ourselves, are we witnesses to the Father’s love, as Christ was to all? He is the humble one who calls the arrogant to conversion, the just one who makes us just.

We see all this in the lives of the new Saints: they are not heroes or champions of some ideal, but authentic men and women ... May their intercession assist us in our trials and their example inspire us in our shared vocation to holiness. As we journey towards this goal, let us pray without ceasing, and continue in what we have learned and firmly believe (cf. 2 Tim 3:14). Faith on earth thus sustains the hope for heaven.

The Mass concluded with the recitation of the Angelus. In his Angelus address, Pope Leo recognized the presence of the presidents of Italy and Lebanon, as well as delegations from Armenia and Venezuela. He also recalled that the day was World Mission Sunday (background) and lamented the targeting of civilians in Myanmar’s civil war. The Pope concluded:

Let us entrust to the intercession of the Virgin Mary and the new Saints our constant prayer for peace in the Holy Land, Ukraine and other places affected by war. May God grant all their leaders the wisdom and perseverance to advance in the search for a just and lasting peace.

 

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Further information:

• 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Holy Mass and canonisation (Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
• Pope asks: When there are cries for help, do Christians respond with love? (CNS)
• Biographies of the 7 saints (Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Italian)
• Angelus (Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana)