Mother Teresa to be elevated to sainthood

Vatican City, Sep 4 (AFP) Mother Teresa, the celebratednun whose work with the poor of Kolkata made her an instantlyrecognisable global figure, will be proclaimed a saint today. Pope Francis will preside over a solemn canonisation massin the presence of 100,000 pilgrims and with a giant haloedportrait of Teresa smiling down from St Peter’s Basilica. The sainthood ceremony, for which the Vatican could easilyhave issued twice as many tickets, comes one day short of the19th anniversary of Teresa’s death, at 87, in the Indian citywhere she spent her adult life, first teaching, then tendingto the dying poor. It was in the latter role, at the head of her own still-active order, the Missionaries of Charity, that Teresa becameone of the most famous women on the planet. Born to Kosovar Albanian parents in Skopje – then part ofthe Ottoman empire, now the capital of Macedonia – she won the1979 Nobel peace prize and was revered around the world as abeacon for the Christian values of self-sacrifice and charity. She was simultaneously regarded with scorn by secularcritics who accused her of being more concerned withevangelism than with improving the lot of the poor. The debate over the nun’s legacy has continued after herdeath with researchers uncovering financial irregularities inthe running of her Order and evidence mounting of patientneglect, insalubrious conditions and questionable conversionsof the vulnerable in her missions. A picture of her as someone who was just as comfortableflying around in a private plane as clutching the hand of adying patient has also emerged to counterbalance her saintlyimage. Sceptics will be absent from the Vatican today however asFrancis pays homage to a woman he sees as the embodiment ofhis vision of a "poor church for the poor". "Tomorrow we will have the joy of seeing Mother Teresaproclaimed a saint," the Argentinian pontiff said yesterday."And how she deserves to be!" "This witness to mercy in our time will join the vastarray of men and women who, by their holiness of life, havemade the love of Christ visible." By historical standards, Teresa has been fast-tracked tosainthood, thanks largely to one of the few people to haveachieved canonisation faster, John Paul II. The Polish cleric was a personal friend of Teresa and asthe pope at the time of her death, he was responsible for herbeing beatified in 2003. Achieving sainthood requires the Vatican to approveaccounts of two miracles occurring as a result of prayers forTeresa’s intercession. (AFP)CPS