Events in the news this week.
Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-Century Franciscan priest who founded nine California missions, including Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, will be declared beatified today in Rome by Pope John Paul II.
Beatification is the second of three steps to sainthood. The process began in 1984 when the Pontiff declared Serra “venerable.” The Vatican approved the beatification earlier this year after determining that a St. Louis nun was miraculously cured of the disease lupus 25 years after praying for Serra’s help.
Over the past two years, the sainthood drive has been dogged by charges that the California mission system--which Serra founded in 1769 and led for 15 years--resulted in virtual enslavement of Indians.
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