Mother
Teresa, a Catholic nun who devoted her life to helping India's poor,
has been declared a saint in a canonization Mass held by Pope Francis in
the Vatican.
In a historic ceremony at the Vatican city on Sunday, Catholic
church's Mother Teresa, who is revered for her work with the poor in
India, has been proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis.
At the canonisation ceremony in St Peter's Square which was
attended by tens of thousands along with 13 heads of state, Pope Francis
said St Teresa had defended the unborn, sick and abandoned, and had
shamed world leaders for the "crimes of poverty they themselves created".
Speaking in Latin, Francis said that "after due deliberation
and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel
of many of our brother bishops, we declare and define Blessed Teresa of
Calcutta to be a saint, and we enroll her among the saints, decreeing
that she is to be venerated as such by the whole church."
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, just 19 years after her death.
Pope Francis then delivered a homily, in which he praised Mother Teresa - "this emblematic figure of womanhood and of consecrated life" - for her charitable work.
"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," he said.
"She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the
side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity. She made her
voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might
recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created."
For the newly-sainted Teresa, he said, "mercy was the salt
which gave flavor to her work, it was the light which shone in the
darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty
and suffering."
She was an example to volunteers around the world, he said. "May she be your model of holiness."
In a departure from his scripted remarks, he noted that people "may struggle" to refer to her as "Saint Teresa." "With great spontaneity, I think we will continue to call her Mother Teresa," he said.
Cardinal Angelo Amato read a brief biography of Mother Teresa's
work, then asked the Pope to canonise her in the name of the Church.
Pope Francis responded: "We declare and define Blessed Teresa
of Calcutta to be a saint and we enrol her among the saints, decreeing
that she is to be venerated as such by the whole Church."
The Pope said Mother Teresa had spent her life "bowing down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity".
He added: "She made her voice heard before the powers of the
world, so that they might recognise their guilt for the crimes of
poverty they themselves created." He then repeated: "The crimes of poverty they themselves created."
Although critics have sought to portray St Teresa as a sinner and a
hypocrite, her supporters have been just as vocal in her defence,
challenging those critics to live their lives the way St Teresa did,
before they cast the first stone.
She died in 1997 - aged 87 - and was beatified in 2003, the first step to sainthood.
In 2002, the Vatican ruled that an Indian woman's stomach tumour
had been miraculously cured after prayers to Mother Teresa, despite the
doubts of her husband.
Credits: BBC / CNN
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