Pope signs decree creating Venezuela’s first saint

A woman embraces a statue of Jose Gregorio Hernandez, known as the ‘doctor of the poor’, in Valencia, Venezuela (Jacinto Oliveros/AP)

A man revered by millions as the “doctor of the poor” will be the first saint from Venezuela after Pope Francis approved a decree on Tuesday.

A date for the canonisation of Dr Jose Gregorio Hernandez, who died in 1919, has not been set.