MEXICAN SAINTS ANNOUNCED THE STRENGTH OF LOVE FOR GOD

VATICAN CITY, MAY 22, 2000 (VIS) - The 27 new Mexican saints "give eloquent testimony of the transforming power of love for God and for our fellows, the essence of Christian life." These were the Pope's words today to pilgrims who had come to Rome to participate in yesterday's canonization of Cristobal Magallanes and companions, martyrs; Jose Maria de Yermo y Parres and Maria de Jesus Sacrmentado Venegas.

They, he went on, "encourage us to live, with renewed fidelity, our condition as His children called to give witness of faith, to maintain alive hope and to practice charity at all moments of life."

John Paul II underlined that the Mexican people "have always stood out for their great love for God, the Virgin, the Church and the Pope, deeply rooted in the Catholic faith which, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of history, remains an integral and fundamental part of your nation's soul."

"Return to Mexico," he said in closing, "with the commitment to renew your faithfulness to God and the Church, to give, in all places and times, a valiant witness of Christian life and to collaborate in new evangelization that Christ may become known and loved by all Mexicans. Also, defend the cause of life, the family, the poor and the needy."

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