Junipiro Serra News Today

Soaring dome. and its about to become just about the most exciting place on earth for -- for catholics and really, the culmination, this canonization today of an inspiring story, a controversial story. for the folks just joining in, we are talking to kate snow, we have anne thompson on scene and associate professor, kathleen sprows cummings of notre dame. kathleen, remind us the brief portrait of the saint he will canonize today. >> junipiro serra was born on mallorca in 1113 he founded nine mis...

Mean he is that the whole church can publicly invoke him and venner in rate h-- can vennerat him there is a part of the body, a bone fragment, and a second class relic, touched a saint and said to be serras stole, quite elaborate, though he was himself a simple man. the stole. that is what they will be presenting now and they will be vennerated, important for the cat licks to access the divine, some say a back door to the divine, when you dont with a want to ask -- go directly to god, you go to ...

All of us hispanics, americans, they might be working as janitors, they might be working as doctors or whatever it is, boy, to see this day, a priest from buenos aires, who is now pope to see the he canonizationo see father serra and to see the pride of the hispanic-american community, i think its an extraordinary day. maria, you wish to comment on that? >> i think this is the pope that the community has been waiting for. he is basically reflective of the values that the american latino has in t...

The president of north dame, he is here. it is really a great moment for them as well. >> just look at the scene. >> he is walking down the center aisle of the pass sill sick bas think he will take a moment to go into the blessed sacrament chapel before he goes outside where anne is. >> look at the scene. >> the soon-to-be saint is represented in this building in the great upper you are charge much, where he is represented in the stained glass there and said he is going to vest in the east porti...

Cause, there were many testimonies from native americans who had a deep devotion to father serra. that said, he was part of an era when bringing the gospel to people, to christianize people also meant making them spanish, bringing them into spanish culture. they went happened in hand. so i will just say again that we canonize people not for them, it doesnt matter to junipero serra whether he is recognized as a saint, but we canonize people on earth, not only to give examples, as i said before, m...

Chris matthews is also watching and listening with us. oh, he is not. im told we have lost communications with chris. professor, we were talking and theorizing here in the studio, wondering if the pope was flagging a bit in the afternoon heat of washington. no one could blame him. and as we keep saying, at age 78, this is tough. >> he will be energized by this. i think theres a great irony. father serras cause was opened in the 1930s soon after eight jesuit missionaries to new france were canoni...