Mother Teresa may be declared saint in 2016

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Oct 22, 2015: The Vatican has completed the process that leads to the canonization of Bl. Mother Teresa of Kolkata, declaring her a saint, setting the stage for the canonization sometime next year (2016), a Kerala newspaper said quoting sources in the Vatican.

The documents related to the process have been handed over to Pope Francis. The Pope may convene a consistory, or a council of cardinals, in February2016  to announce the date and venue of the canonization of the Blessed Teresa, said the News Paper.

Sources said that the canonization could be held in the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which starts on December 8, 2015 and stretches up to November 20, 2016. Mother Teresa’s death anniversary on September 5 is also considered as a possible date for the canonization.

The healing of a Brazilian man of his malignant brain tumor has been confirmed as a miracle attributed to the mediation of Bl. Mother Teresa. They added that the process related to the investigation into the “miracle” surrounding a Brazilian who belongs to the Santos diocese in Sao Paulo was completed in August 2015.

Church leaders in India have requested the Pope last week to fast-track the remaining proceedings.  The announcement of sainthood is usually held in Vatican, except in extraordinary situations when the function is held in the saint’s place of birth or work. If Mother Teresa is declared a saint in India, the function would mark Pope Francis’s first visit to the country it is hoped.

Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis Catholicos and Cardinal Oswald Gracias have requested the Pope to visit India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his predecessor Manmohan Singh had also said they were ready to welcome the Pope to India.  John Paul II was the last head of the Catholic Church to visit India in 1986 and 1999.