When was Mother Teresa canonized as a saint?

Mother Teresa, reversed for her work for the poor in India, was proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis in a ceremony at the Vatican on September 4, 2016. The Pope said Saint Teresa had defended the unborn, sick and abandoned, and had shamed world leaders for the “crimes of poverty they themselves created”. Tens of thousands of pilgrims attended the canonization in St Peter’s Square. In India, a special Mass was celebrated at the Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in Kolkata (Calcutta).

Many of the proposed miracles associated with Mother Teresa didn’t meet church guidelines. Among the cases that were considered but not deemed miraculous were:

A French girl who said touching a medallion from Mother Teresa healed ribs she’d broken in a car accident — but this healing did not happen quickly enough to be seen as miraculous.

A Palestinian girl recovered from bone cancer after seeing Mother Teresa in a dream — but the church waits for several years to ensure there is no recurrence in cancer cases, as a miraculous recovery will be permanent.

In addition, an improvement in someone’s condition, even if there’s no medical cause for the amelioration, wouldn’t fit the parameters for a miracle, as the healing should be complete. And a cure must be due to the intercession of Mother Teresa — so any recovery that involved prayers sent to other saints would not work.

 

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