{{Pope Benedict XVI will name 17th century Mohawk Kateri Tekakwitha the first Native American saint.}}<\/p>\n
Another newly named saint is Marianne Cope, a German-born woman who emigrated to the United States as a child, became a nun and went on to devote 30 years of her life helping lepers in Hawaii.<\/p>\n
Their canonization, along with that of five other saints, will be celebrated at a special Mass in St. Peter’s Square Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
“This is a great weekend for America in the Vatican, and it’s really a great weekend for Native Americans. Sainthood is the guarantee that this person is close to God,” said Vatican senior communications adviser Greg Burke.<\/p>\n
“There’s a vast history of people the Catholic Church has made saints over the centuries. Holiness is absolutely a matter of equal opportunity, but this certainly is special because it marks the first time a Native American becomes a saint.”<\/p>\n
Kateri Tekakwitha’s canonization follows what has been judged a miracle by the Roman Catholic Church in the 2006 case of an American boy with a flesh-eating bug.<\/p>\n
Jake Finkbonner was only 5 when he became infected by the bacterium after falling down while playing basketball, CNN affiliate King 5 News in Seattle reported. The infection spread quickly through the tissue of his face, with drugs and surgeries apparently powerless to stop its progress.<\/p>\n
“It was dire,” his mother, Elsa Finkbonner, told the network. “He was air-lifted to children’s hospital, and he was fighting for his life at that point.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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