The Year of Mercy, and September, in particular, aligns perfectly with the canonization of Mother Teresa. The second miracle was the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors after loved ones prayed to her, the Italian Catholic bishops’ association’s official newspaper Avvenire reported.
Advertisement
Even though it often takes decades for people to achieve sainthood after their death, Mother Teresa’s beatification was rushed through by Pope John Paul II, who waived the requirement of waiting five years after a person’s death to pursue the path to sainthood.
Mother Teresa – a Catholic nun who devoted her life to helping India’s poor – has been declared a saint.
These people were invited to the canonization and came from all over Italy, including Milan, Bologna, Florence, Naples and Rome.
“Spontaneously, we will continue to say ‘Mother Teresa, ‘” he said to applause.
Pope Francis delivered a canonization mass in the Vatican. The large group was served by several hundred of Mother Teresa’s sisters. NDTV reports that, shortly after hailing Mother Teresa “as the personification of maternal love and a powerful advocate for the poor”, the 79-year-old pontiff toured St. Peter’s square via open-topped jeep. She wouldn’t have wanted anything less. By renouncing possessions and conducting her work with only the barest essentials Mother Teresa was God’s instrument in building a religious congregation that now numbers 4,500 sisters and is spread throughout the world – praying intensely, attracting co-workers, serving the poor, being a light in darkness. Setting up the Missionaries of Charity order, she chose to devote her entire life to the depriving masses. All of those sisters touch countless lives with their faithful and generous work. At the age of 12, Agnes felt a call to religious life and a call to serve the poor but was reluctant to leave her dear mother and family in their need.
There were also some criticisms over the cleanliness of the homes run by her sisterhood and of her order to secretly baptise dying patients.
“Everybody today seems to be in such a bad rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents”.
“I am so proud to be from Kolkata”, said Sanjay Sarkar, a high school student on hand for the celebration.
Advertisement
That constant rushing around and focus on money was what she believed to be real poverty.
