Pope Francis named two Palestinian women as saints on Sunday, in a ceremony in Saint Peter’s Square just days after the Vatican formalized its de facto recognition of the State of Palestine.

The canonization of Sister Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, founder of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem, and Maryam Baouardy, who founded a Carmelite convent in Bethlehem, was not directly connected with the Vatican’s Wednesday announcement of a new accord with the State of Palestine.

But the ceremony, attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a delegation of senior clergy including the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, highlighted Pope Francis’ drive to help embattled Christian communities in the Middle East.

Saint Peter’s Square was decked with portraits of the Palestinians and two other newly sanctified nuns – the French Jeanne-Emilie de Villeneuve and Italian Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando.