Pope Francis on Wednesday canonized Junipero Serra, an 18th-century Spanish Franciscan priest who created the first Catholic missions in California in 1769 and is credited with ushering in Catholicism in a region that today has become one of the religion's strongholds in the United States.
A crowd of more than 20,000 people -- nuns, cardinals, bishops, Catholic University of America students and lay people -- gathered Wednesday afternoon at and around the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. as the pontiff celebrated a Mass to usher in the church’s newest saint.
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