Pope Francis made things official in front of 120,000 people in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, canonizing the awesome woman as Saint Teresa of Kolkata, as she will now be known.
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Calling her a “dispenser of mercy”, Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa of Calcutta (now Kolkata) a saint for her work with the impoverished and downtrodden in India. “Let us carry her smile in our hearts”, Pope Francis said.
A renowned local pianist playing at Sunday morning’s mass said Mother Teresa’s canonization connects St. Anthony Perish even more to global Catholicism.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was declared a saint by Pope Francis on Sunday, travelled to Niagara Falls in 1982 and spoke at the Niagara University graduation ceremonies.
As if to emphasize the point, which Francis himself has made repeatedly, he repeated: “The crimes of poverty they themselves created”.
For Francis, Mother Teresa put into action his ideal of the church as a merciful “field hospital” for the poorest of the poor, those suffering both material and spiritual poverty. “But she has been a great inspiration, I think, to many people”, music instructor Jodi Marshall said.
The pizzas were served by 250 of Mother Teresa’s sisters along with some 50 brothers of the male branch of the Missionaries, and other volunteers who offered their services for the occasion.
Mother Teresa’s canonization took just 19 years, considered extremely quick in matters of the Catholic Church.
The canonization of Saint Teresa is unusual, largely because most saints are not honored as such until centuries after their deaths.
Some in the crowd say they remember when Mother Teresa had visited the area back in 1995.
She died in 1997 after a lifetime spent caring for hundreds of thousands of destitute and homeless poor in Kolkata, for which she came to be called the “saint of the gutters”.
“This is a blessed day for me”, Thomas, a Roman Catholic, said.
Kejriwal, who worked with the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata for a short period in 1992, has often fondly recalled his association with Mother Teresa.
“She had that lovely saying, ‘God doesn’t want us to be ideal, he only wants us to be faithful.’ And she was faithful even in times of trial”, Dolan said.
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“In recognition of Mother Teresa’s selfless and dedicated services, a grateful nation conferred on her India’s highest civilian award “Bharat Ratna” in 1980″, he said.
