Pope Benedict canonised the Philippines' second saint yesterday, giving one of the Catholic Church's top honours to the 17th-century teen martyr Pedro Calungsod before throngs of Filipinos in St Peter's Square.
Cheers went up in the crowd of about 80,000 when Benedict declared Calungsod a saint and worthy of veneration by the entire Catholic Church. Benedict named six other saints, some of them missionaries like the devout boy from Cebu province in the central Philippines.
Many Filipino faithful are particularly devoted to Calungsod, who as a teenager went with some Spanish Jesuit missionaries to Guam in 1668 to convert the Chamorro people. He was killed when the natives resisted.
Rome's Filipino expatriate community came out in droves for the canonisation, including Marianna Dieza, a 39-year-old housekeeper who said it was a day of pride for all Filipinos.
"We feel very happy and proud," Dieza said. "We are especially proud because he is so young."
At a public gymnasium in the Manila suburb of San Juan, more than 1,000 Catholics applauded and waved Philippine flags with Calungsod's image after he was declared a saint. Victoria Radovan, 66, said she prayed to him to cure her of polio. She said she hoped Calungsod's impressive faith would inspire young Filipinos away from dangerous vices like illegal drugs.