Page 11 - ATD19DEC2015

WORLD NEWS A11
Saturday 19 December 2015

Mother Teresa to be made a saint after pope OKs miracle

In this 1993 photo, Mother Teresa, head of Missionaries of Chari- lived and worked. ple, living day to day with been dedicated to min-
ty, is photographed, in New Delhi, India. Pope Francis has signed Born Agnes Gonxha Bojax- no food. At the time, her istering to the poor just as
off on the miracle needed to make Mother Teresa a saint, giving hiu on Aug. 26, 1910, in Sko- Missionaries of Charity or- Mother Teresa did, was an
the nun who cared for the poorest of the poor one of the Catho- pje, Macedonia, Mother der had nearly 4,000 nuns admirer. During his Septem-
lic Church’s highest honors just two decades after her death. Teresa joined the Loreto or- and ran roughly 600 or- ber 2014 visit to Albania,
The Vatican said Friday, Dec. 18, 2015, that Francis approved der of nuns in 1928. In 1946, phanages, soup kitchens, Francis confided to his inter-
a decree attributing a miracle to Mother Teresa’s intercession while traveling by train from homeless shelters and clin- preter that he was not only
during an audience with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making Calcutta to Darjeeling, she ics around the world. impressed by her fortitude,
office on Thursday, his 79th birthday. was inspired to found the While Mother Teresa is but in some ways feared it.
Missionaries of Charity or- known and admired by Francis recounted that he
(AP Photo) der. The order was estab- many around the world, had met Mother Teresa,
lished four years later and she was not beloved by all. an ethnic Albanian, when
NICOLE WINFIELD The miracle in question has since opened more She was criticized for the they attended a 1994 bish-
Associated Press concerned the inexplica- than 130 houses worldwide quality of care in her clinics op synod at the Vatican
VATICAN CITY (AP) — ble cure of a Brazilian man to provide comfort and and for taking donations together. At the time, he
Mother Teresa, the tiny, suffering from a viral brain care for the needy, sick from Haitian dictator Jean- was Archbishop Jorge Ma-
stooped nun who cared for infection that resulted in and “poorest of the poor.” Claude Duvalier and dis- rio Bergoglio. “Bergoglio
the poorest of the poor in multiple abscesses. By Dec. Mother Teresa won the No- graced American financier had Mother Teresa behind
the slums of India and be- 9, 2008, he was in a coma bel Peace Prize in 1979 for Charles Keating. him, nearby, and he heard
yond, will be declared a and dying, suffering from her work with Calcutta’s Detractors also opposed her intervene often with
saint next year after Pope an accumulation of fluid destitute and ill — work her stance against the use great strength, without let-
Francis approved a miracle around the brain. which continued even af- of birth control in Calcutta’s ting herself in any way be
attributed to her interces- The Rev. Brian Kolodiej- ter she herself became sick. slums, which was neverthe- intimidated by this assem-
sion. chuk, the postulator spear- “The poor give us much less in keeping with church bly of bishops,” the Vati-
The Vatican on Friday set heading Mother Teresa’s more than we give them,” teaching opposing artificial can spokesman, the Rev.
no date for the canoniza- canonization case, said in Mother Teresa said in 1977. birth control. Federico Lombardi, later
tion, but it is widely believed a statement Friday that 30 “They’re such strong peo- Francis, whose papacy has recounted. q
that it will take place in the minutes after the man was
first week of September to due to undergo surgery, he
coincide with the 19th an- sat up, awake and without
niversary of Mother Teresa’s pain. The surgery did not
death and during Francis’ take place and a day later
Holy Year of Mercy. the man was declared to
“With her work, she was al- be symptom-free.
ways the symbol of mercy, The Vatican later attribut-
not just with words but with ed the cure to the fervent
her actions,” said the supe- prayers to Mother Teresa’s
rior general of Mother Te- intercession by the man’s
resa’s Missionaries of Char- wife, who at the time of his
ity, the Rev. Sebastian Va- scheduled surgery was at
zhakala. her parish church praying
The Vatican said Francis alongside her pastor.
approved a decree attrib- “This is fantastic news. We
uting a miracle to Mother are very happy,” said Suni-
Teresa’s intercession during ta Kumar, a spokeswoman
an audience with the head for the Missionaries of Char-
of the Vatican’s saint-mak- ity in the eastern city of Kol-
ing office on Thursday, his kata (earlier called Calcut-
79th birthday. ta), where Mother Teresa