Pope Francis approves Mother Teresa's elevation to sainthood

QUICK PILL

• Mother Teresa was known during her lifetime for her service to the poor and downtrodden. She established homeless shelters, orphanages, soup kitchens and clinics around the world.

• The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has recognised a second miracle attributed to the late Mother Teresa, clearing the way for her elevation to sainthood.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has recognised a second miracle attributed to the late Mother Teresa, clearing the way for her elevation to sainthood. The Vatican will declare the date and venue for the same on Tuesday.

Vatican officials said on Friday that the pope has approved a decree that attributed a miracle to Mother Teresa's intercession, VOA reports.

The primary step towards making her a saint commenced in 2002 when Mother Teresa was credited with the healing of a Bengali woman who suffered from tuberculosis and cancer.

The miracle?

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The miracle named in the decree is the sudden cure in 2008 of a Brazilian man suffering from brain tumours.

The man is said to have been cured after his wife prayed for Mother Teresa's intercession.

According to reports from Italian media, the formal canonization ceremony is expected to take place in September 2016, making it one of the highlights of Pope Francis' 'Holy Year of Mercy'.

Preparations in India:

According to report in the Times of India, preparations have started in earnest at Mother House, the global headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity (MC), the Catholic diocese of Kolkata as well as the rest of the city, where Mother Teresa primarily lived.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India has invited Pope Francis to India to confer sainthood on Mother but the latter has not responded.

The messiah:

Mother Teresa was known during her lifetime for service to the poor and downtrodden. She established homeless shelters, orphanages, soup kitchens and clinics around the world.

She was originally an Albanian but lived in India for most of her life. She founded a religious congregation called the Missionaries of Charity that is active till date.

She passed away in India in 1997.