Pope Francis News: Pontiff To Canonize California Evangelizer Junipero Serra in 2015

Pope Francis is set to accord sainthood later this year to the Blessed Junipero Serra, the 18th century Spanish Franciscan who founded nine mission towns in California.

The Pope made the announcement during a press conference aboard his plane on Thursday as he flew to the Philippines from Sri Lanka.

"In September, God willing, I will canonize Junipero Serra in the United States," he said, as quoted by the LA Times. "He was the evangelizer of the West in the United States."

The Pope said the Holy See is sidestepping the usual requirement of a verified second miracle for this particular canonization.

Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore J. Cordileone thanked the Pope for his decision to name one of the founders of present-day California a saint.

"We are all elated at the news of the canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra," Cordileone said in a video statement, as reported by The San Francisco Examiner.

Franciscan Father Jogn Vaughn of the Santa Barbara mission, the "vice postulator" for Serra's sainthood, told the Catholic News Service that the Pope's announcement was a surprise.

The announcement is "a great honor for the province," Father Vaughn said. "We've always looked to Serra as the ideal for how to preach the Gospel, as he said 'always go forward, never back.'"

Serra arrived in the Americas in 1749 and founded the first California mission in San Diego in 1769. He died in 1784 at the mission at Carmel, near Monterey.

Blessed Junipero Serra also restored early places of Christian worship across the state as well as in Mexico.

The Pope said he is set to seek sainthood as well for Joseph Vaz, a Portuguese missionary to Sri Lanka who predated Serra by 20 years.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church said he has chosen to canonize some religious figures known to be great evangelizers over the past 18 months.