On May 4, 2003, in Madrid, Pope John Paul II canonized Pedro Poveda Castroverde, with Jesuit José Maria Rubio and religious Genoveva Torres, Angela de la Cruz, and María Maravillas de Jesús.
"You are witnesses of these things" (cf. Lk 24: 46-48), Jesus said to his Apostles in the Gospel account just proclaimed. This was a difficult and demanding mission, entrusted to men who did not dare to show themselves in public for fear of being recognized as disciples of the Nazarene.
"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world [...]. From now on, let no one make trouble for me: for I bear the marks of Jesus in my body" (Gal 6: 14,17).