Stronger Pope canonises three missionaries

AMID African singing and dancing, a slightly stronger-looking Pope John Paul II yesterday canonised three men who worked as missionaries in the 19th century.

Although he looked better than on Saturday, the Pope, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, read only the Italian part of his homily, while a cardinal read the German part.

This was apparently to help the 83-year-old Pontiff, bedecked in gold vestments, conserve his strength for the rest of the ceremony for tens of thousands of people in an overcast St Peter’s Square.