17 May 2005

Pope beatifies nun who worked for 35 years in Hawaii

3:18 pm on 17 May 2005

The Pope has beatified a 19th Century Franciscan nun who had spent 35 years working with leprosy patients on the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Molokai.

Beatification is the last formal step before possible sainthood.

The Hawaii Channel reports an American woman has presented Pope Benedict the Sixteenth with the bone relics of Mother Marianne Cope.

In Saint Peter's Basilica, the Pontiff spoke in English to greet pilgrims who had come from Hawaii for the beatification.