Pope Francis has declared the 16th-century Jesuit Pierre Favre a saint, bypassing the Vatican’s typical saint-making procedures to honor the first recruit of Jesuit founder St. Ignatius Loyola.
The announcement was made Tuesday on Francis’ 77th birthday, something of a gift to his Jesuit family for whom Favre is a beloved role model.
Favre, who lived from 1506 to 1546, met Ignatius while the two were college roommates in Paris along with another future Jesuit, Francis Xavier. Favre later was ordained and spent most of his ministry preaching Catholicism in Germany and elsewhere during the Protestant Reformation.
Francis, the first Jesuit pope, recently spoke about the importance Favre had on his life, in particular his message of dialogue with anyone — “even with his opponents.”
In September, Francis bypassed typical Vatican procedures to unilaterally declare another saint, Pope John XXIII. Francis decreed that John would be canonized along with Pope John Paul II on April 27 even though the Vatican hadn’t confirmed a second miracle attributed to John’s intercession.
In Favre’s case, Francis was believed to have relied on a rarely used “equivalent canonization” process. With it, popes can declare that someone who has enjoyed widespread acclaim over time deserves veneration by the whole church without having to go through the Vatican’s typical procedures, which include ascertaining two miracles to their intercession.
Francis began his birthday Tuesday with the homeless, one of the men carrying his dog.
The four men live on the street in the Rome neighborhood just outside the Vatican’s walls and were invited by the Holy See official in charge of alms-giving to attend the morning Mass, which Francis celebrates daily at the hotel where he lives on Vatican City grounds.
The Vatican said Francis also invited his household help to join him in a “family-like” atmosphere, and he spoke of them one by one during his homily.
Francis, who is making history as one of the more informal and down-to-earth popes, struck a modest note as he reflected on people’s roles in the world. “Let the Lord write our history,” he said in his homily.
After Mass, all ate breakfast with Francis at the hotel’s dining room.
Francis had already blown out the candles on his birthday cake, presented to him Saturday by children at the Vatican. But another present awaits him: A delegation from his favorite Argentine soccer team, San Lorenzo, will give him a replica of their championship trophy.
Vatican officials said no fixed time was set for the papal meeting with officials and at least one player from the team, which clinched the Argentine championship Sunday. The delegation flew from Argentina on Monday night on a private plane, to arrive in Rome on Tuesday.
“Arriving on such as special day, like the 77th birthday of the pope, this meeting seems made for God,” the team’s vice president, Marcelo Tinelli, said shortly before departure.
The pope also got an unexpected birthday gift Tuesday. The Advocate, a U.S. magazine for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, named Francis its person of the year. The magazine cited the pope’s “Who am I to judge” comment about gays. Francis was also named Person of the Year by Time magazine last week.
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