• VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis declared his two predecessors John XXIII and John Paul II saints on Sunday before hundreds of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square, an unprecedented ceremony made even more historic by the presence of retired Pope Benedict XVI.
• Never before has a reigning and retired pope celebrated Mass together in public, much less at an event honoring two of their most famous predecessors.
• Benedict's presence was a reflection of the balancing act that Francis envisioned when he decided to canonize John and John Paul together, showing the unity of the Catholic Church by honoring popes beloved to conservatives and progressives alike.
• Francis took a deep breath and paused for a moment before reciting the saint-making formula in Latin, as if moved by the history he was about to make.
• He said that after deliberating, consulting and praying for divine assistance "we declare and define Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II be saints and we enroll them among the saints, decreeing that they are to be venerated as such by the whole church."
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• KRAKOW, Poland (AP) -- Nine years after his death, the Poles once again applauded their beloved countryman, Pope John Paul II, on Sunday, as he was declared a saint in an unprecedented Vatican ceremony.
• Bells tolled across Poland and the crowds applauded, in unison with those gathered in St. Peter's Square in Rome, when Pope Francis declared the pontiff from Poland a saint.
• "This is a great day for Poland, this is a great day for me," said emotional Maria Jurek from Katowice. "He changed Poland and he changed us with his teaching and with his visits here."
• Jurek got up at 4.30 a.m. to join a pilgrimage organized by her parish church -- complete with papal yellow and white flags, portable canvas stool and own food -- to watch the Vatican ceremony live on giant screens at the new John Paul II sanctu

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