The 25-year-old delivered a rendition of traditional carol What Child Is This? as she took to the stage inside St. Peter’s Basilica to celebrate Pope Francis declaring the late Albania-born Roman Catholic nun and missionary a saint.
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“Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded”, the Pope said. Not only the sisters who are in contact but all kinds of religion – even the people who did not believe in God – when they come in contact with Mother, something happens to them because she’s so tender, so loving. He repeated that line again, emphasizing a point that he has made numerous times as pope: “The crimes of poverty they themselves created”.
Small of stature, the Albanian nun opened missionaries of charity in over 120 countries aided by several thousand nuns and over one million volunteers, and led an austere life of her own. Another group of 100 drove from Kosovo toting a banner that read: “Mother Teresa: Pray for Us”. In that way, while the canonization of “St. Teresa of Kolkata” was a celebration of her life and work, it was also something of an affirmation of Francis’ own papal priorities, which have earned him praise and criticism alike.
She joined the Sisters of Loreto at age 17 and was sent to Kolkata, where she taught at a high school.
Cardinal Angelo Amato gave a brief biography of the work Mother Teresa performed and then asked Pope Francis to perform the canonization.
In an interview with VOA’s Mariama Diallo, Tukiçi said hearing that Mother Teresa was going to be a saint was a very special moment for him. She died in 1997.
“This little congregation began five years ago with 26 people in my carport”, said Father Pawelk.
Pope Francis also used his sermon to recall Teresa’s fervent opposition to abortion, which she termed “murder by the mother” in a controversial Nobel Peace prize speech in 1979. She said that suffering was a gift from God.
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Those fears prompted a huge, 3,000-strong law enforcement presence to secure the area around the Vatican and close the airspace above. “She dedicated her life to loving others, so why not me, why not us?”
