They came in large numbers for the canonization of ten figures of the Church. Some 45,000 faithful from all over the world gathered on Sunday, May 15, in Saint Peter’s Square, at the Vatican (Rome). Pope Francis has proclaimed ten figures of the Catholic Church “saints”, including three French religious. Arrived by car, the sovereign pontiff presided over this canonization mass (the first since the pandemic) alongside around fifty cardinals and 2,000 priests and bishops.
Among these ten “canonized” are the French monks Marie Rivier (1768-1838), César de Bus (1544-1607) as well as the hermit of the desert Charles de Foucauld. But also the Dutch priest and journalist Titus Brandsma, known for his commitment against Nazi propaganda during the Second World War and killed in Dachau in 1942.
The beatification process for Charles de Foucauld, who was assassinated in 1916 in Tamanrasset, in the Algerian Sahara, began in the 1930s. He was declared “blessed” in 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI.
