She also went after the political leaders that allowed poverty, he said. In the second, approved past year, Brazilian Marcilio Haddad Andrino says his wife’s prayers to Teresa led to brain tumours disappearing.
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While her sainthood wasn’t the sole focus of this mass, Mother Teresa was definitely a hot topic of discussion. Hundreds of nuns hailing from Missionaries of Charity religious order Mother Teresa had founded in 1950 also witnessed the canonization. I had a very proud feeling of being Albanian. Known to be pushy in getting her work done, Mother Teresa was an active fundraiser for a noble cause. He admitted even he would find it hard to call her “St. Teresa” since her tenderness was so maternal.
“She was committed to defending life, ceaselessly proclaiming that the unborn are the weakest, the smallest, the most vulnerable”, the Pope said.
Around 120,000 people attended the ceremony, according to Vatican estimates, celebrating the life of a woman who Francis said it might be hard to call “Saint” as people felt so close to her they spontaneously used “Mother”.
“She made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognise their guilt for the crime – the crimes – of poverty they created”, he added. The low turnout suggested that financial belt-tightening and security fears in the wake of Islamic extremist attacks in Europe may have kept pilgrims away.
3,000 police and security officials patrolled the area around the Vatican.
LIVESAY: It was Francis, the people’s pope, who signed off on her canonization a year ago after the Vatican said it verified the second of her two miracles required for sainthood. She called out to two of Mother Teresa’s nuns who she saw in the distance. The devotees will then march around the church with the idol of Mother Teresa. There probably is no better way to honor the new saint’s memory than to do something like this.
The elevation to sainthood of Mother Teresa is following her lead in caring for the poor.
“I saw a spark of light emerge from mother’s photo and reflect on my tumor”, says Monica Besra, cured by Mother Teresa.
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Maria Theresa is considered a symbol of Francis’ papacy, a pope that lives in a hotel room rather than the Apostolic Palace. Pope Francis ordered a lunch consisting of pizza that was served in the Vatican auditorium for the homeless.
