Pope Beatifies Gypsy in Call for Tolerance
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From Times Wire Reports
Pope John Paul II beatified a Gypsy for the first time in church history, taking a step to promote tolerance and understanding of the nomadic group. Several thousand Gypsies from all over Europe joined the crowd in St. Peter’s Square to attend a Mass in honor of Ceferino Jimenez Malla and four other people beatified by the pope. Beatification is the last formal step before possible sainthood. Jimenez Malla was killed by Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 for defending a priest and refusing to renounce his faith.
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