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
Pope Francis delivered the formula for
the canonization of the Albanian-born nun -- known as the "saint of the
gutters" -- before huge crowds of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's
Square in Vatican City on Sunday morning.
Applause
broke out before he completed the formula of canonization, in which he
declared "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint." India
renamed the city of Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001 to match the Bengali
pronunciation. But the church uses the spelling of Calcutta in its
references to Mother Teresa.
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.
A
huge portrait of Mother Teresa, whom the church credits with having
performed two miraculous cures of the sick, hung from St. Peter's
Basilica during the colorful ceremony.
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.
A
huge portrait of Mother Teresa, whom the church credits with having
performed two miraculous cures of the sick, hung from St. Peter's
Basilica during the colorful ceremony.
Francis: 'May she be your model of holiness'
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.
Prayers
were then delivered in a number of languages, including Albanian,
Mother Teresa's native tongue, and Bengali, the language of Kolkata,
where a special Mass was celebrated at the Missionaries of Charity
Sunday.
A prayer was delivered in Chinese for persecuted Christians
around the world.
About 1,500
homeless people from across Italy were bused into the Vatican to be
given seats of honor at the Mass -- and be served a pizza lunch by nuns
afterward.
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