Venezuela will soon have its first saint, after ailing Pope Francis on Tuesday canonised a physician who died more than 100 years ago, revered for his selfless service during a previous pandemic.

Jose Gregorio Hernandez was born in 1864, studied in Paris, Berlin, Madrid and New York, and died in Caracas in 1919 after being struck by a car.

He was beatified – an earlier step towards sainthood – in 2021 amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Venezuela, a century after Hernandez became known as the "doctor of the poor" caring for patients during another major global pandemic, the Spanish flu.

His beatification was made possible after a "miracle" attributed to him was recognised by the Church – the recovery of a 10-year-old girl who had been shot in the head in 2017.

Doctors had said she would be permanently brain damaged if she survived, but the girl recovered after her mother prayed to Hernandez.

Francis approved the canonisation of Hernandez and another new saint from his hospital bed in Rome, where he is being treated for double pneumonia, the Vatican said.

Following the pontiff's approval, canonisation is usually formalised at a special mass in honour of the new saint. (AFP)