Pope Francis creates new children saints on visit to Portugal holy site

Pope Francis has created two of the Catholic Church's youngest saints by canonising a brother and sister who had visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago.

The pontiff declared the elevation of the young shepherd siblings - Francisco and Jacinto Marto - during a visit to the Portugese town of Fatima that has now become a major pilgrimage site.

The announcement makes the pair, who died aged just nine and 10 within three years of the 1917 apparitions, the youngest saints of the church who were not martyrs.

Hundreds of thousands of onlookers broke into applause as the pope spoke at the venerated Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, where the Madonna reportedly appeared between May and October 1917.

In his address to a huge outdoor Mass, Francis prayed the Virgin Mary would protect the most vulnerable members of society, "especially the sick and the disabled, prisoners and the unemployed, the poor and the abandoned".

Pilgrims from as far afield as China, Venezuela and East Timor listened to the pontiff's homily.

Mariana Teixeira, a 20-year-old student from Lisbon said: "The pope is incredible - the way he talks and brings so many people together. It's really moving."

Jose Ornelas, a 59-year-old librarian from Caracas, which along with other cities has seen deadly anti-regime protests, said: "We are going to pray to Fatima and Pope Francis so that they can intervene for a peaceful solution for Venezuela."

"We are living in a violent spiral with so much hate and so much helplessness."

Fatima became a major holy site after the 1917 visions, in which the Madonna is said to have shared three prophecies with the siblings and their 10-year-old cousin Lucia Dos Santos.

These are said by believers to have predicted the outbreak of World War Two and the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul.

Lucia became a nun and died aged 97 in 2005. There are moves to also make her a saint.