Pope Francis is making five more child saints: Two Portuguese shepherd children who said the Virgin Mary appeared to them in Fatima 100 years ago, and three Mexican adolescents who were killed for their Catholic faith in the 16th century. Francis signed the decrees Thursday, raising the likelihood that he might canonize the Portuguese siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto during his upcoming trip to the Fatima shrine. In the case of the Mexicans, Francis declared the three Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala worthy of sainthood without having a miracle attributed to their intercession, once again sidestepping the Vatican's typical saint-making process. Francis followed the rules in approving a miracle for the Marto siblings, who died at age 9 and 11 of pneumonia. Church officials declined to detail the miracle in question other than to say it involved the medically inexplicable cure of a Brazilian child.

Source: ABC News March 23, 2017 15:15 UTC