Mother Teresa of Calcutta was declared a Saint today, to much fanfare, in St. Peter’s Square of Vatican City. Pope Francis canonised the Nobel laureate and former nun, celebrated the world over for her decades spent caring for the destitute in the slums of Calcutta, India.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims and followers flocked to St. Peter’s Basilica today to attend Sunday Mass and the canonization ceremony of Mother Teresa.
On being asked to canonize her in the name of the Church, the Pope said:
“After due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother bishops, we declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint and we enrol her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole Church.”
The Pope led the ceremony of the induction:
Many tweeted about the occasion:
#MotherTeresaCanonization Mass starting now! Look at the crowd! @EdwardPentin pic.twitter.com/qEcPPqs1ED
— Hannah Brockhaus (@HannahBrockhaus) September 4, 2016
The canonization of the former nun was attended by almost 100,00 people including 1,500 homeless people, along with 15 heads of states, including Spain’s Queen Sophia, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj among others.
In India, The Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa, with over 4,500 nuns enrolled worldwide, celebrated the canonization. The occasion was also celebrated Skopje, in modern Macedonia, St Teresa’s place of birth.
Here are so me more pictures from the Vatican :
Feature Image Source: Reuters
