Venezuelans celebrate as beloved 'doctor of the poor' canonized by Pope Leo XIV

(19 Oct 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caracas, Venezuela - 19 October 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Various of fireworks display outside church in Caracas
2. Various of images of Venezuelan saints Mother Carmen Rendiles Martínez and José Gregorio Hernández, being carried through crowds
3. Wide of crowds gathered outside church watching canonization Mass at the Vatican
4. People applauding as Hernández is mentioned among the new saints
5. Woman crying as she watches canonization Mass
6. Various of faithful, Arelys Alvarez, 47 crying as watches canonization Mass
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Arelys Alvarez, 47, housewife:
"My heart is bursting with excitement, I owe my life to him. I had three operations, I had an accident and thanks to him and God I'm still here with my family. He granted me the blessing of meeting my grandchild. What else can I say?"
8. Various of halo being installed on Hernandez's statue
9. Wide of statue and crowds
10. People listening to Mass at church
11. Woman holding picture of Hernández
12. People visiting Hernandez's tomb inside church
13. Various of Miriam Moreno, doctor, holding candle and praying in front of Hernandez' tomb
14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Miriam Moreno, doctor:
"I work with patients, and I call him a partner. And today I'm saying, partner, I came to your graduation, you are graduating, you made it."
15. Various of people dancing
16. Woman raising Venezuelan flag
17. Woman holding phone with picture of Martínez
18. Woman dancing, image of Martínez and statue Hernández in background

STORYLINE:
Venezuelans celebrated on Sunday as Pope Leo XIV canonized Venezuela's beloved “doctor of the poor” Sunday, offering the South American nation its first saint.

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.

Overnight hundreds of Venezuelans flocked to a square outside a church in downtown Caracas.

Families and devotees watched the canonization taking place in the Vatican on a giant screen in the early hours of Sunday morning before dancing and celebrating the new saints.

"My heart is bursting with excitement, I owe my life to him," said Arelys Alvarez who said Hernandez saved her during three operations.

Hernández is beloved among Venezuelans, with his face plastered on street art around Caracas, in portraits in hospitals and in photos gracing individual home altars.

As a doctor in Caracas during the late 1800s and early 1900s, he refused to take money from poor people for his services and often gave them money for medicine, earning the nickname “doctor of the poor.”

He was killed in 1919 while crossing a street shortly after picking up some medicine at a pharmacy to bring to a poor elderly woman.

The canonization is a long-awaited celebration and a boost for Venezuela, just weeks after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize.

It comes as tensions mount with the United States over Washington’s use of military force against suspected drug cartels.

AP video shot by: Juan Arraez and Andry Rincon

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