Pope Francis gave the Catholic Church two of its youngest saints, canonizing shepherd siblings believed to have seen the Mado-nna 100 years ago in a Portuguese town that is now a major pilgrimage site.
Hundreds of, thousands of, people, many of whom slept outdoors to hold their places, broke into applause as the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics proclaimed the siblings — Francisco and Jacinta Marto — the newest of the Church’s saints. The two died at the ages of 10 and 9 years old, within three years of the 1917 apparitions, making them the youngest saints of the Church who were not martyrs.
The Virgin of Fatima is venerated by Catholics around the world, a following underscored by the many national flags fluttering in the huge crowd, estimated at more than half a million. Marie Chantal, 57, a life-long devotee, travelled more than 9,000 km (5,600 miles) from the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean to attend the ceremony.
