Catholics filled Mexico’s 60,000 person Jalisco stadium in Guadelajara to witness the beatification (that is, the final step before sainthood) of eight “Cristeros,” or individuals that responded to government pressure on the Church between 1926-1929. The event was presided over by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the council for determining Sainthood, and Pope Benedict XVI, who gave a reading in Spanish from the Vatican over the stadium screens, where he . Some of the martyrs included Luis Padilla Gomez, student president of the Young Catholic Association killed and tortured in 1927 by government troops, and Ramon Vargas Gonzalez, shot beside his brother, and a 14 year old, Jose Sanchez del Rio.