Pope OKs miracle for Mother Teresa’s canonization

Pope Francis has authorises canonisation of Blessed Mother Teresa, after the Vatican announced it has recognised a second miracle attributed to her. Popularly known as the “Saint of the Gutters”, Mother dedicated her entire life toward the benefit of the poor and the downtrodden.

The BBC reports that beatification requires one miracle by the Catholic Church, while the process of becoming recognised as a saint requires proof of at least two miracles.

The Pope judged that the curing of an Indian woman suffering from an abdominal tumour was the result of the supernatural intervention of Mother Teresa with God – a claim challenged by Indian rationalists.

In Kolkata she founded the Missionaries of Charity to look after the poorest of the poor.

Mother Teresaa was beatified by St John Paul II in 2003, in a ceremony attended by some 300,000 pilgrims.

Speaking to Sky News, Thomas D’Souza, the Archbishop of Kolkata, a city which Mother Teresa made her home, said: “We are very happy and overjoyed with this news, the city of Kolkata has been waiting for this day”.

She was felicitated with a Noble Prize in 1979 for her philanthropic work.

A Vatican spokesman said he had no information about the report.

The second miracle is required for canonisation.

For all the reverence with which her name and memory are treated, Mother Teresa was not without her critics.

Mother Teresa was criticised by some for her staunch Catholic beliefs on abortion and divorce, and for accepting the Legion d’honneur from Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier.

Her grave in the order’s headquarters has since become a pilgrimage site.