Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez — known as the "doctor of the poor" — will soon become Venezuela's first saint.

Pope Francis, the first South American pope, signed the decree for the canonization of Hernadez from a hospital in Rome on Tuesday. A date for his canonization has not been set.

The South American country has long sought the canonization of Hernandez, who died in 1919.

"This historic event, long awaited by the Venezuelan people, is a recognition of the exemplary life and heroic virtues of a man who dedicated his existence to alleviating human suffering and transmitting a message of love and hope," the Archdiocese of Caracas said in a statement.

A petition signed by 5 million people calling for his canonization was given to Pope John Paul II when he visited Venezuela in 1996.

Hernandez was born in 1864 in Isnotu, in western Venezuela. He studied in Europe and the U.S. He became known as the "doctor of the poor" in Venezuela as he tended to patients during the Spanish flu global pandemic.

In 1919, after getting medicine at a pharmacy for an impoverished woman, he was hit by a car and died, according to an Associated Press report. An estimated 20,000 people participated in his funeral procession.

He was beatified, a preliminary step to sainthood, in 2021 after a miracle was attributed to him in the case of girl who had been shot in the head in 2017.

Doctors had said the 10-year-old girl would suffer permanent brain damage, but the girl's mother prayed to Hernandez, and the child made a full recovery.

Any miracles attributed to a potential saint must be validated by teams of doctors, theologians and cardinals.

Pope Francis is reported to be in stable but critical condition. He has been hospitalized for more than a week with double pneumonia.

The Vatican said that the pope received the Eucharist Tuesday morning and then "resumed work activities."

Some information provided by The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

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