Pope to canonise Majorcan Father Junipero Serra

Yesterday, was a historic day for Majorca when Pope Francis announced that during his trip to the United States in September he is going to  canonise Majorcan Junipero Serra, a missionary who spread  Christianity  across the west of the United States in the 1700s.
Last year, celebrations were held across Majorca and the United States to celebrate the 300th anniversary of his birth in Petra, where there is a museum dedicated to his life next to the house in which he grew up.
The news was welcomed by the Balearic government, the Council of Majorca and the Bishop of Majorca.
“In September, God willing, I will canonise Junipero Serra in the United States, who was the evangeliser of the west of the United States,” the Pope told  reporters aboard the plane taking him from Sri Lanka to Manila on the second leg of his Asian tour. Francis is due to visit Philadelphia for a world gathering of Catholic families. While Philadelphia is the only official stop on the tour so far, he is widely expected to visit New York to address the United Nations and Washington to meet President Barrack Obama.
Holding the canonisation ceremony in the United States opens up the possibility he might visit the western part of the country where Serra worked as a missionary.