In a surprise addition to his fall 2015 trip to the U.S., Pope Francis is planning to canonize the founder of California's first missions, Bl. Junípero Serra. 

Bl. Serra, a Franciscan priest, lived in what is now California in the 1700s. A Spanish-born missionary, he founded the first nine of 21 eventual missions in California. He worked tirelessly with the Native Americans, and is said to have baptized more than 6,000 people, and confirmed 5,000.

For more information about this news, see http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-to-canonize-evangelizer-of-the-wild-west-93498/.

For more information about Junípero Serra, see http://stfrancis.clas.asu.edu/article/jun%C3%ADpero-serra-0.