City-born Cardinal Newman declared a saint by the Pope
City-born Catholic convert Cardinal John Henry Newman has been declared a saint by the pope during a ceremony in the Vatican.
Newman was one of five prominent religious figures to be canonised by Pope Francis in a mass that attracted tens of thousands of pilgrims.
The 19th century theologian and poet, who converted from Anglicanism and is considered one of the most influential Christian figures of modern times, is the first Briton to be made a saint in more than 40 years.
Newman is also the City’s fifth saint, alongside Thomas Beckett, Thomas Moore, Edmund Campion and Polydore Plasden.
The Prince of Wales attended the ceremony in Rome, saying the canonisation was a cause for celebration for all Britons.
“Whatever our own beliefs, and no matter what our own tradition may be, we can only be grateful to Newman for the gifts, rooted in his Catholic faith, which he shared with wider society,” he wrote in a local newspaper.
Newman was a key figure in the Oxford Movement that aimed to return the Church of England, which split with Rome in the 16th century, to the teachings of early Christianity.
The pope also canonised three nuns – Italian Giuseppina Vannini, Mother Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyn from India and Brazilian-born Dulce Lopes Pontes – as well as Swiss laywoman Marguerite Bays.
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