Pope Leo XIV canonized Venezuela's beloved “doctor of the poor” Sunday before an estimated 55,000 people, offering the Caribbean nation its first saint and a reason to celebrate amid its yearslong economic crisis and new tensions with the United States.

José Gregorio Hernández , revered by millions for his dedication to poor people, was declared a saint alongside Mother Carmen Rendiles Martínez, the founder of a Venezuelan religious order, at a Mass in St. Peter's Square.

Thousands of jubilant Venezuelans filled the square and draped Venezuelan flags on its police barricades. They applauded when Leo pronounced the Latin declaration of canonization. Thousands more who couldn't travel to Rome marked the occasion in Caracas, where the Vatican service was being livestreamed before dawn

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