Spanish
Pope Leo XIV asked this Monday the pilgrims who attended the canonizations this Sunday of the Venezuelans José Gregorio Hernández and Carmen Rendiles to take example from these saints to face the problems of life.
The American and Peruvian Pope received this Monday in the Paul VI hall the faithful who arrived in Rome to attend the canonization of the first Venezuelan saints, but also that of Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan, Armenian Catholic archbishop of Mardin, in Turkey; the layperson from Papua New Guinea Peter To Rot; the Italian nuns Vincenza Maria Poloni, founder of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Verona, and Maria Troncatti, of the congregation of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and also the Italian layperson Bartolo Longo.
In his message dedicated to the Venezuelan faithful, Leon XIV recalled the letter from the bishops of Venezuela in which they asked that the new saints be "a strong stimulus for all Venezuelans to gather and know how to recognize themselves as children and brothers of the same homeland".
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He explained that these two figures were "people very similar to us, who lived facing problems that are not foreign to us, and that we ourselves can face as they did, following their example".
And therefore, the Pope urged the faithful that, as José Gregorio and Mother Carmen did in their lives, they should assume that "whoever lives beside me, like me, like them, is called to the same holiness, and therefore I must see him, above all, as a brother to respect and love, sharing the path of existence, supporting each other in difficulties and building together the kingdom of God with joy".
Regarding the first Venezuelan saints, the pontiff highlighted that their great virtues were faith, hope, and charity "which arises from welcoming and sharing the gift received; that makes us find the true meaning of a life and asks us to build it through service, whether to the sick, the poor, or the smallest." Upon concluding, he asked all the pilgrims "to return to their lands with hearts full of gratitude and a burning desire to imitate the new saints".
