It was a day which broke a string of records and one which Catholic pilgrims did not want to end. <br /><br />Two living popes, Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI officiated at a ceremony not seen since the Middle Ages – the elevation to sainthood of two other popes on the same day.<br /><br />Cheers and applause rang out across the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square after the historic double papal canonisation of John XXIII and John Paul II.<br /><br />And the singing and prayers of more than one million believers who crammed into Rome continued throughout Sunday and into the evening.<br /><br /> It was an unprecedented event never to be forgotten.<br /><br />Italian Manuela Corsoni said she was happy she had been in Rome: “It was a very emotional experience, the atmosphere was unique here today. It is completely different when you are actually here in St. Peter’s Square.”<br /><br />Afterwards thousands of people visited the tombs of the Catholic Church’s two newest Saints which lie in St Peter’s Basilica.<br /><br />Both popes are seen as representing contrasting faces of the church – reform and tradition – but both much revered.
