Mother Teresa will be made a Catholic saint after Pope Francis approved a second miracle needed for her canonization, a move welcomed by the archbishop of Kolkata, India, as “a real Christmas gift” from the pontiff.
Francis took the step by signing a decree late
Thursday declaring that the inexplicable 2008 recovery of a Brazilian
man who suddenly woke from a coma caused by a viral brain infection was
due to the intercession of the Albanian nun, who died at age 87 in 1997.
Mother Teresa, known as "the saint of the gutters," was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1979 after dedicating her life to working on behalf of the poor,
particularly in the slums of Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta.)
She
was beatified in 2003 by Pope John Paul II after being attributed to a
first miracle, answering an Indian woman's prayers to cure her brain
tumor, according to the Vatican. One miracle is needed for beatification
— described by the Catholic Church as recognition of a person's
entrance into heaven — while sainthood requires two.
By the time
of her death, Mother Teresa's India-based Missionaries of Charity
supported 4,000 nuns and ran hundreds of orphanages, soup kitchens,
homeless shelters and clinics around the world.
Church observers
said the pope would probably canonize Mother Teresa on Sept. 4, the day
before the anniversary of her death, which is also her official feast
day.
“It is a real Christmas gift that the Holy Father has given,
especially the Church in (Kolkata),” said Archbishop Thomas D’Souza, the
Indian city's archbishop. “We were waiting for this moment, since many
years really, and now that it has come we are very happy, overjoyed."
Francis,
who has made outreach to the poor a priority for the Catholic Church,
met Mother Teresa more than two decades ago while he was Archbishop
Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina. He is known for admiring her
ministry as well as her fearlessness in speaking out on behalf of
society’s outcasts.
“I would have been afraid to have had her as my superior, since she was so tough,” he once joked.
Mother
Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910, into an ethnic
Albanian family in what is today the Republic of Macedonia.
She
joined the Loreto order of nuns in 1928. In 1946, while traveling by
train from Kolkata to Darjeeling, was inspired to found the Missionaries
of Charity order.
The order was established four years later and
has since opened more than 130 houses worldwide to provide comfort and
care for the needy.
While her actions gained widespread
admiration, Mother Teresa was not beloved by all and was criticized for
the quality of care in her clinics and taking donations from Haitian
dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and disgraced American financier Charles
Keating, according to the Associated Press.
Contributing: David Gibson and Rosie Scammell, Religion News Service
SOURCES: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.catholicdoors.com, AP and USA TODAY research; PHOTO: AP USA Today
Note: Martin Luther once said: “Good works do not make a good man, but a good man
does good works; evil works do not make a wicked man, but a wicked man
does evil works.” Goodreads Good works must emanate from the real source (Christ) to be consider a blessing, otherwise we will be deceiving ourselves. Worshiping God is my first and most important duty towards Him. Supplying the needs of my neighbors is my second duty. Matthew 6:33 says: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." What is His righteousness? The perfect character of God as described in His Word (Job 36:3; Isaiah 51:5-8; John 17:25) That said, if we seek God's kingdom but not His righteousness then the great deceiver called the serpent and satan who deceives the whole world (Rev 12:9) and who transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14) will try to perform miracles in the place of Christ.
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