VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI to preside Mission Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square for dolmen closing of Synod of Bishops and canonisation of five new Saints

Vatican City (Fides Service) - At 9.30 a.m. on Sunday October 23, World Mission Day, the Holy Father will preside at a Eucharistic concelebration in St. Peter's Square with the Synod Fathers for the conclusion of the Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. During the ceremony, the Pope will canonise five new Saints: Jozef Bilczewski, archbishop of Lviv of the Latins (1860 - 1923); Gaetano Catanoso, priest, founder of the Congregation of the Veronica Sisters of the Holy Countenance (1879 - 1963); Zygmunt Gorazdowski, priest, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph (1845 - 1920); Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, priest of the Society of Jesus (1901 - 1952); and Felice da Nicosia, of the Friars Minor Capuchin (1715 - 1787).
A note made public today by the Office for Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff reads: "On this Sunday, which closes the Year of the Eucharist and in which five new saints are proclaimed, we are invited to make the Eucharist ever more the summit and the source of the life and mission of the Church, and to be witnesses to the Gospel, even unto the ends of the earth”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 19/10/2005, righe 14, parole 173)