Vatican News reports that:
The Pope approved the “favorable votes of the Ordinary Session of the Cardinals and Bishops for the canonization of Blessed Emanuele Ruiz and 7 Companions, of the Order of Friars Minor, and Francesco, Abdel Mooti, and Raffaele Massabki, Lay Faithful, killed in hatred of the Faith in Damascus (Syria) between July 9 and 10, 1860.”
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Joy in Syria: Pope Francis gives ‘green light’ for canonization of ‘Martyrs of Damascus’
Catholic News Agency (CNA) has also published an article about the canonization.
In Damascus, Syria, today, news that the 11 “Martyrs of Damascus” will be canonized was received with “emotion and hope,” according to Father Firas Lufti, guardian of the Franciscan convent of Bab-Touma in Damascus where the martyrdom occurred and where many relics of the martyrs are preserved.