Holy Mass and Canonization of Blessed Junípero Serra
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington
Wednesday September 23, 2015

WASHINGTON - Canonizing the 18th-century Spanish missionary Junipero Serra, Pope Francis insisted a person's faith is alive only when it is shared.

Blessed Junipero Serra������Ƶapp motto was “always forward, never back.” But as the date nears for his canonization by Pope Francis, Serra������Ƶapp life of faithful evangelization is being fiercely — and many say unfairly — questioned by detractors who insist on looking back into the life and times of the 18th-century missionary priest.

ROME - The canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra honours a famous missionary who was motivated by love of God, but it also is a call to recognize how the process of evangelization must respect peoples and their cultures, said the head of the Franciscan order.

VATICAN CITY - People seem to enjoy finding the shortcomings of candidates for sainthood like Blessed Junipero Serra, but they should ask themselves if they would have his generosity and courage to leave everything behind to care for the poor and bring them the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

Despite growing resistance from some Native Americans and U.S. Catholics, the Vatican on May 2 will host an event to celebrate the life of Junípero Serra, the Spanish missionary priest whom Pope Francis plans to canonize during his upcoming American tour.

WASHINGTON - Although the upcoming canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra has stirred mixed reaction, a group of panelists said the ambiguities around the friar should not discount the good work he did or the positive dialogue and reconciliation that could result from his sainthood.

WASHINGTON - Surprising even the people who have been promoting the sainthood cause of Blessed Junipero Serra, Pope Francis announced Jan. 15 that in September, he hopes to canonize the 18th-century Spanish Franciscan who founded a string of missions across Mexico and California.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Commenting on recent killings by Islamist terrorists at a Paris newspaper, Pope Francis condemned killing in the name of God, but said freedom of expression should be limited by respect for religion and that mockery of faith can be expected to provoke violence.