GUATEMALA CITY - A visibly exhausted Pope John Paul II greeted thousands of Roman Catholic faithful who carpeted Guatemala City's streets with an ornate path of pine needles, sand and flowers on Monday, as he arrived from Canada to canonize Central America's first saint.
The pope, speaking in Spanish, said he arrived in Guatemala "as a pilgrim of love and hope."
He said he hoped today's canonization of Pedro de San Jose Betancur could be "a true moment of grace and renewal for Guatemala" and help the Guatemalan people in their search for "peace, solidarity and justice."
He blessed the Guatemalan people, especially the poor and marginalized.
Pilgrims lined avenues in the hot sun, singing and cheering. The 82-year-old pontiff planned to celebrate a Mass today canonizing Betancur, a 17th-century Spanish missionary who dedicated his life to helping prisoners, abandoned children and the handicapped in Guatemala.
Many already consider Betancur a saint, saying he answered their prayers and saved relatives from death or healed their ailments.
One such miracle, recognized by the Vatican, was a 5-year-old boy cured of advanced lymphoma in 1985 after he carried a locket that supposedly contained a piece of Betancur's clothing.