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Posted: Monday, October 22nd, 2012 9:14 AM HST

Pope to name 7 new saints, seeks to revive faith

By Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI is adding seven more saints onto the roster of Catholic role models as he tries to rekindle the faith in places where it's lagging. Two of them are Americans, including one with Hawai`i connections: Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who cared for Hansen’s Disease patients on Molokai and Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the U.S. A third is a rather unlikely saint, Pedro Calungsod, a Filipino teenager who helped Jesuit priests convert natives in Guam in the 17th century but was killed by spear-wielding villagers opposed to the missionaries' efforts to baptize their children.