Pope Francis on Sunday made saints of two of the most contentious Roman Catholic figures of the 20th century — murdered Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI, who reigned over one of the Church's most turbulent eras and enshrined its opposition to contraception.
In his homily, read with tapestries of images of the seven new saints hanging from St. Peter's Basilica behind him, Francis called Pope Paul "a prophet of an extroverted Church" who opened it up to the world. He praised Romero for disregarding his own life "to be close to the poor and to his people".
Francis often quotes Paul, showing that he is committed to the reforms of the Council, which allowed the Mass to be said in local languages instead of Latin, declared respect for other religions, and launched a landmark reconciliation with Jews.
Still today, ultra-conservatives in the Church do not recognize the Council's...