Poor Brazilian parish becomes first to take St. John Paul II's name
Brazil, April 29, 2014: A small parish in the poor neighborhood of Alagados in Salvador
de Bahia, Brazil, has become the first in the world to be named after St. John Paul
II, after the late pontiff’s canonization April 27.
Sara Gomes, spokesperson
for the Archdiocese of Salvador, told AFP that the “small church of Notre Dame of
Alagados will now be called 'Notre Dame of Alagados and of St. John Paul II.' It is
the first in the world to be named after the new saint.”
The official name
change took place the morning of April 27 after Mass at the parish. Pope John Paul
II was declared a saint alongside Pope John XXIII at a Vatican Mass earlier that day.
Archbishop
Murilo Krieger signed a decree authorizing the new title for the parish, which was
inaugurated in 1980 by John Paul II during the first of three trips he made to Brazil.
Capuchin Father Jorge Rocha recalled meeting St. John Paul II at the parish three
decades ago. “The saints live among us,” he told the Globo website. “The Church does
not invent them, she recognizes what already exists.” (Source: CNA)