Vatican to canonise Mother Teresa of Kolkota in 2016

Mangalore Today News Network

Vatican City, May 19, 2015: A top Vatican official has indicated that Catholic nun and missionary Mother Teresa might be canonised in September next year.

The head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation, Rino Fisichella, last week said Sept. 4, 2016 will mark the Voluntary Work Jubilee and the hoped-for date for Mother Teresa’s sainthood.

Mother Teresa lived most of her life in India and upon her death aged 87 in September 1997 lay in repose in St Thomas Church, Kolkata for a week prior to her funeral.  She was granted a state funeral by the Indian government in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India.

Mother Teresa was widely admired by many for her charitable works but drew criticism for opposing contraception and for conditions in the hospices for which she was responsible. She was the recipient of numerous honors including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2003, she was beatified as "Blessed Teresa of Kolkata".

A second miracle credited to her intercession is required before she can be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.  Her Missionaries of Charity order operates in 133 countries and runs hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, mobile clinics, orphanages and schools.   She was born in what is now Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, on 26 August 1910. She is well known and venerated all over the world.