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Pope canonizes monk

SAO PAULO (Brazil): Pope Benedict XVI on Friday canonized an 18th-century Franciscan monk as Brazil's first native-born saint as hundreds of thousands cheered and waved flags from all corners of South America. Surrounded by Latin American Bishops and choirs of hundreds, the Pope pronounced the sainthood of Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao, an 18th-century Franciscan monk who is credited by the Church with 5,000 miracle cures. The canonization makes Galvao the first native-born saint from the world's largest Roman Catholic country, home to more than 120 million of the planet's 1.1 billion Catholics. Friar Galvao, who died in 1822, began a tradition among Brazilian Catholics of handing out tiny rice-paper pills, inscribed with a Latin prayer, to people seeking cures for everything from cancer to kidney stones. The Pope's trip has so far focused on reinforcing Church doctrine on abortion, sexual morality and euthanasia. At a large youth rally on Thursday night, he instructed young Catholics to avoid premarital sex, remain faithful once they are married and to promote life from ``its beginning to natural end.''

AP

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