Pope canonizes 27 new Mexican saints

Thousands of people - including many Mexicans - have attended a ceremony in St Peter's Square in Rome, where Pope John Paul canonised twenty-seven Mexicans.

The Catholic Church in Mexico had only one saint San Felipe de Jesus, canonised in 1862 and twenty-five of the new saints were killed under the anti-clerical governments of the nineteen-twenties and thirties in Mexico which set off a Catholic uprising known as the Cristera War.

Speaking in Spanish, Pope John Paul said the Catholic church had undergone harsh trials during those years, but that Mexican Christians could now live in peace and harmony. Correspondents say the Catholic church has been trying to reclaim a more public role since the 1992 reform of Mexico's 1917 anti-clerical constitution removed restrictions on religious activity

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service