Two prominent religious women from upstate New York are among seven new saints approved Monday by Pope Benedict.
Sister Marianne Cope and Kateri Tekakwitha are expected to be canonized in 2012. Sr. Marianne of Syracuse was a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, which also has a presence in Buffalo. She cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii in the late 1880s. Blessed Kateri was a Native American baptized in 1676 in the Mohawk Valley where a shrine to her attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.
WBFO's Mark Scott reached Sr. Marcella Nachreiner, director of communications for the Sisters of St. Francis in Buffalo for her reaction. She said they're rejoicing and giving thanks that one who walked among us is going to be a saint in the universal Catholic church.