26-04-2025
Francis was the pope who made the most saints
The decision to recognize those killed in an attack on their coastal town in southeastern Italy was first made by Pope Benedict XVI, Francis' predecessor. But Francis was the one who ultimately saw through their sainthood when he took over and got a big jump start on his canonization count.
After that canonization ceremony at the Vatican, Francis went on to recognize more than 100 additional saints in rites at home and abroad during his papacy.
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Mother Teresa, the nun who died in 1997, had already been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 in recognition of her work over decades caring for the indigent and ill in India, and she was considered a 'living saint' by many. But when she was officially canonized, Francis, who shared her respect for all religions and concern for the less fortunate, noted that she might always be best known as Mother Teresa.
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'I think, perhaps, we may have some difficulty in calling her St. Teresa: Her holiness is so near to us, so tender and so fruitful, that we continue to spontaneously call her Mother Teresa,' he said.
In 2017, Francis added a category for beatification and canonization, opening a path to sainthood that did not exist before. Broadly speaking, saints generally attain that honor through martyrdom or miracles, meaning they either died for the faith or performed extraordinary feats worthy of veneration (although there are some other recognized modes). The new category was created to recognize those Christians who sacrifice their life for others inspired by their beliefs, among other steps.
The category, known as 'offer of life,' applies to Christians who 'have voluntarily and freely offered their life for others and persevered with this determination unto death,' as Francis put it when introducing the concept. 'The heroic offering of life, inspired and sustained by charity, expresses a true, complete and exemplary imitation of Christ,' he said, deeming it equally 'deserving' of admiration as the other saintly behaviors the faithful recognize.
One prospective saint that Francis beatified and soon intended to canonize will now have to wait just a bit longer. The first millennial set to be canonized will be Carlo Acutis, a British-born Italian teenager who died of leukemia in 2006 when he was 15. In his short life he had gained a reputation for his faith and power to perform miracles. His canonization ceremony, previously scheduled for Sunday, will be delayed during the mourning period for Francis, according to the Catholic News Agency.
As for the pope, he could someday be named a saint, although not all popes have qualified for this distinction. The first pope was Peter, one of Jesus' disciples, who led the church around A.D. 30 and was declared a saint. He and most of those who followed him in the role of pope for the first 500 years of Roman Catholicism were recognized as saints, while fewer than 10 popes were named as saints in the next 1,000 years, according to Pew Research Center.
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It said in 2014 that only about 30% of popes over the years were ultimately declared saints.
This article originally appeared in
