Pope proclaims 14 new saints, even Mattarella at mass

Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square presided over the Mass and the rite of canonisation of fourteen Blesseds. They are the eleven Martyrs of Damascus: the Franciscans Manuel Ruiz Lopez, Carmelo Bolta Banuls, Engelbert Kolland, Nicanor Ascanio Soria, Nicolas María Alberca Torres, Pedro Nolasco Soler Mendez, Francisco Pinazo Penalver, Juan Jacob Fernandez with the Maronite laymen Francis, Abdel Mooti and Raphael Massabki. They were killed in 1860 in an attack on their convent in Syria by Druze. Among the new saints is also Father Giuseppe Allamano, founder of the Missionaries of the Consolata. Then there is Marie-Leonie Paradis, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family. Finally Elena Guerra, foundress of the Sisters of St Zita, known as the 'apostle of the Holy Spirit'.

President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella attended the mass in St. Peter's Square celebrated by the Pope. Among the fourteen new saints are two Italians: Giuseppe Allamano and Elena Guerra.

A Christian must aspire to 'service' not 'power', the Pope said in his homily. "To this we must yearn: not for power, but for service. Service is the Christian way of life. It is not about a list of things to do, as if, once done, we can consider that our turn is over; he who serves with love does not say: 'now it will be someone else's turn'. This is the thinking of employees, not of witnesses. Service is born of love and love knows no boundaries, it does not make calculations, it spends and gives. It does not merely produce to bring results, it is not occasional service, but is something that is born from the heart, a heart renewed by love and in love'.

The Pope, commenting on today's Gospel, recalls that God "is the God of love, who stoops low to reach those who are low; who makes himself weak to lift up the weak, who works for peace and not for war, who came to serve and not to be served. The cup that the Lord will drink is the offering of his life, given to us out of love, even unto death and death on a cross. And, then, at His right and at His left will be two thieves, hanging like Him on the cross and not seated in the seats of power; two thieves nailed with Christ in pain and not seated in glory". For the Pope "he who dominates does not win, but he who serves out of love". "Brothers and sisters," the Pope said in his homily, "Jesus reveals the thoughts, desires and projections of our heart, sometimes unmasking our expectations of glory, domination, power. He helps us to think no longer according to the criteria of the world, but according to the style of God, who becomes the last so that the last may be lifted up and become the first".