POPE Francis has declared Pope Paul VI and slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero saints, reciting in Latin the rite of canonization at the start of Mass in St. Peter's Square.

After hearing brief biographies of Paul, Romero and five other people canonized Sunday, Francis declared them saints and "decreed that they are to be venerated as such by the whole church."

The crowd of thousands in St. Peter's Square applauded as Francis pronounced the rite. Among them were some 5,000 Salvadoran pilgrims who traveled to Rome to honor their hero, Romero, who stood up to El Salvador's brutal military dictatorship to defend the rights of the poor and was slain as he said Mass.

Pope Francis lauded Pope Paul VI and Romero as prophets of a church that looks out for the poor.

History's first Latin American pope warned in his homily Sunday of the "danger" posed by wealth, calling "the love of money the root of all evils." He said: "We see this where money is at the center, there is no room for God nor for man."

Francis said Paul, who oversaw the 1960s meetings that modernized the Catholic church, survived deep misunderstandings to "cross new boundaries" for the sake of following Christ's call.

He praised Romero, who was gunned down by El Salvador's right-wing death squads, as having given up his own life to be "close to the poor and to his people." (AP)