who was Charles de Foucauld, who was canonized by Pope Francis?

“When we look at the biography of Charles de Foucauld, he was a very great sinner and he became a very great saint“says a man, who came to attend the canonization of the man by the Pope, Sunday, May 15. Born in 1858, Charles de Foucauld was a Viscount, from a very wealthy Alsatian family. He frequents prostitutes and leads a dissolute life, before leaving everything to retire to the desert.

He founded a hermitage in the Sahara and his fame became worldwide. A hundred years after his death, the message of stripping down advocated by Charles de Foucauld still resonates with some. Pope Francis recalled that he was also one of the first to practice dialogue with Muslims. “Pope Francis, he wants to say to Christians today, do not be afraid, have confidence. The encounter with the other is not necessarily a subject of conflict and war“, notes Cyprien Viet, journalist for the Agency iMedia.