MADRID, May 4: One million worshippers flocked to central Madrid on Sunday for an open air mass where Pope John Paul II canonised five new Spanish saints, the country’s episcopal conference said.

The crowd numbers at the mass met the expectations of the organisers, who had hoped up to one million people would attend the ceremony in the Spanish capital’s Colon square.

The two priests and three nuns took the number of Spanish declared saints to 20.

The new saints include the priest Pedro Proveda Castroverde, who was executed after being captured by Republicans early in the 1936-39 civil war. The other four new Spanish saints are a Jesuit, Jose Maria Rubio Peralta, and three nuns — Genoveva Torres Morales, Angela de la Cruz and Maria Maravillas de Jesus, all of whom died during the last century.

The 82-year-old pontiff arrived shortly before 10:00 am for the ceremony. Entire families had set up camp in Colon square, spending Saturday night in the open air to await the two-hour canonisation mass, the highlight of the pope’s two-day visit.

To cries of “Long live the pope” and “John Paul II, everybody loves you” and flanked by several hundred priests, the pontiff took place at a giant altar, behind which a vast canvas depicting the five new Spanish saints was stretched.—AFP