Pope Francis Canonizes Sri Lanka’s First Saint

Published at 9:30 am, January 14, 2015

EastIdahoNews.com Staff

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images(COLOMBO, Sri Lanka) — Pope Francis canonized Sri Lanka’s first saint on Wednesday, praising his example of making no distinction of race, status or religion.

Half a million Sri Lankans gathered in the country’s capital of Colombo to watch the pope make Joseph Vaz, a 17th century Indian-born missionary, a saint.

Pope Francis held up Vaz as a model for national unity, saying he was a man who risked his life to minister to people on both sides of Sri Lanka’s main ethnic groups.

While less than 10 percent of Sri Lankans are Christian, they come from the two ethnic groups — the Sinhalese and Tamils. The Catholic church is trying to promote national unity five years after Sri Lanka’s long and bitter civil war ended.

The pope will next fly to the Philippines on Thursday for a two-day visit before returning to Rome.

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