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Mother Teresa to be beatified

Pope John Paul II blesses Sister Nirmala, Superior-General of the Missionaries of Charity of Kolkata, during a ceremony at the Vatican's apostolic palace on Friday. The Pope has approved a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, winging the world's most famous nun along the path to sainthood at record speed. The move clears the way for the diminutive nun, who spent her life helping the poorest of the poor, to be beatified on October 19, 2003. — Reuters photo

Vatican City, December 20
The late Mother Teresa will be beatified on October 19, Brian Kolodiejkhuk, the main supporter of her beatification, the last stage before sainthood, said on his Internet site today.

The Vatican earlier officially recognized a miracle attributed to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Pope John Paul today signed two decrees that accept as authentic the 1998 miracle, paving the way for her beatification, originally said to have been scheduled for May.

Mother Teresa died in 1997.

In the first decree, the Pope recognised the “heroic virtues” of the ethnic Albanian charity worker who died in 1997, the Vatican said.

The second decree, based on the work of a Vatican commission, formally recognised as a miracle the September 1998 healing of a Bengali tribal woman, Monika Besra, who was suffering from an abdominal tumor.

Besra, who was 30 at the time, said that on the day of the “miracle,” she had seen light coming from a photo of Mother Teresa, who died a year earlier. The following night, she woke up to find her pains gone.

The Pope had to approve the commission findings before beatification — which means elevation to the rank of “blessed”.

After beatification the Church will then have to authenticate a second miracle to support Mother Teresa’s elevation from “blessed” to saint.

Born Agnes Gonzha Bojazhiu in Skopje, Macedonia on August 27, 1910, Mother Teresa earned worldwide acclaim — and the 1979 Nobel Prize for Peace — for her charity work in the slums of Kolkata.

KOLKATA: Pope John Paul II’s approval of the miracle attributed to Mother Teresa paving the way for her beatification was received with joy in her Missionaries of Charity global headquarters here with thanksgiving prayers being offered.

The papal decision, a step forward to her sainthood, was announced at the Mother House by senior nuns, including Sister Christie, amidst rejoicing.

“Oh, we are very happy. We have been waiting for this announcement since morning,” said Sister Christie who is holding charge in the absence of MoC Superior-General Sister Nirmala, who is away at the Vatican. AFP, PTI