Mother Teresa was canonized by Pope Francis Sept. 4 in St. Peter’s Square as the conclusion of a special Sept. 2-4 jubilee for workers and volunteers of mercy, which is part of his wider Jubilee of Mercy.
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The 25-year-old sang a rendition of What Child Is This? in front of the crowds inside St. Peter’s Basilica as Pope Francis declared famed Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa, who passed away in 1997, as a saint.
Monday will be the 19th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death, making her canonization astonishingly rapid by church standards; only Pope John Paul II, canonized two years ago, just nine years after his death, was declared a saint faster in the modern era.
Thousands of fans gathered in the Vatican on September 4 to hear Pope Francis’ speech, in which he stated, “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint”.
The Pope also pointed out Mother Teresa’s work in trying to make countries aware of their “crimes of poverty”.
Pope Francis however, held world powers to account “for the crimes of poverty they created”.
The Nobel Peace Prize victor, who died in 1997 and was famed for her work with the poor in India – but fiercely criticized by some – was praised by Francis as a “generous dispenser of divine mercy”. The maternal tenderness Teresa brought to her mission to serve society’s outcasts simply made the word “mother” too fitting.
The elevation to sainthood of Mother Teresa is following her lead in caring for the poor.
“We were in the presence of saints and we still are in the presence of saints”, Wenski said.
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910 to Albanian parents, in modern-day Macedonia.
Catholics including hundreds of blue and white-robed nuns from the Missionaries of Charity sisterhood founded by Mother Teresa had gathered from around the world to attend the canonization of the church’s newest saint.
At that time, the church Mother Teresa visited was named St. Joseph’s Church, and was later renamed Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
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HollywoodLifers, what did you learn about Mother Teresa in history class? He admitted even he would find it hard to call her “St. Teresa” since her tenderness was so maternal. In Mother Teresa’s case, an Indian woman with a stomach tumor and a Brazilian man with a brain infection both say they were healed after prayers to the nun.
