Pope Leo XIV canonized a former Satanic priest and 6 other new saints

Pope Leo XIV canonized seven religious figures posthumously elevated to sainthood on Sunday, including a former Satanic priest turned Catholic legend.

More than 70,000 spectators headed to the Vatican to witness the historic canonization. the second Pope Leo XIV performed it when he was seven years old He was chosen as the new leader of the Catholic Church in May.

Among the famous figures was former Satanic priest Bartolo Longo, an Italian lawyer who returned to Catholicism and helped found the papal shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary in Pompeii.

Bartolo, who died in 1926 at the age of 85, first turned away from the Catholic Church after losing his mother early in life.

At about the same time, former Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy Giuseppe Garibaldi was pushing for the elimination of the Papal city-states in order to unify Italy.

Bartolo soon ended up in the notorious world of the occult, which was not as developed then as it is now. He quickly rose to a high-ranking priest within the Satanic Church and spent over a year presiding over various services and rituals, including promising himself to Satan.

But his departure from Catholicism did not last long. He ended up rededicating himself to the church with renewed enthusiasm, thanks to his family and a professor at the University of Naples, which he was attending for his law degree at the time, according to The Guardian. Foundation of the Dominican Friars.

Before his elevation to a saint, Bartolo was unofficially viewed as a saint for those struggling with their spirituality.

Other newly beatified figures in the lineup include an archbishop killed during the Armenian Genocide, a catechist from Papua New Guinea, a Venezuelan “doctor of the poor,” and three nuns who dedicated their lives to charitable causes.

Pictures of the “Seven Witnesses” were revealed in the windows surrounding St. Peter’s Square, surrounding the Pope as he left the church. Basilica He wears his white ceremonial cloak with a miter on his head.

“Today before us are seven witnesses, new saints, who, with God’s grace, have kept the lamp of faith burning,” Liu said. “May their intercession help us in our trials, and may their example inspire us in our common call to holiness.” During his sermon.

Last month, Liu surveyed Carlo Acutis To sainthood after the process began during the reign of the late Pope Francis. Acutis, who died after a battle with cancer at the age of 15, is known as “God’s influencer” for his work creating a website to catalog miracles around the world.

Pier Giorgio Frassati, considered a model of philanthropy and who died at the age of 24 in 1925, was also canonized along with Acutis.

For someone to become a saint, they must be dead, have performed at least two recorded miracles, and lived an exemplary Christian life.