[ALBSA-Info] Mother Teresa

[Agron Alibali]

Mother Teresa One Step Closer to Beatification
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May 28, 2001 10:14 AM ET 
  
CALCUTTA, India (Reuters) - A report on Mother Teresa will be submitted to the Vatican in August to decide on the beatification of the nun who died in 1997 after years of service to the poor, an Indian archbishop said Monday. 
The Diocesan Commission was set up in July 1999 after Pope John Paul granted a special dispensation to put the nun of Albanian descent on the fast track to sainthood in response to requests from Roman Catholic bishops around the world. 
Normally, church rules call for five years to pass after a person dies before the procedure for sainthood can begin. 
Beatification is the first step toward canonization. 
"The Diocesan Commission into 'the life, virtues and reputation of sanctity' of Mother Teresa will hold its closing ceremony on August 15," Calcutta Archbishop Henry Sebastian D'Souza, who is overseeing the inquiry, told Reuters. 
He said the report would include details on an "alleged miracle" by Mother Teresa. The process of beatification requires confirmation of one miracle. No details were given. 
"The commission has examined all events during her life. Doctors' certificates are attached. For a miracle to be accepted, it has to be organic, immediate and irreversible and cannot be explained by natural causes," D'Souza said. 
D'Souza said he was sure the Nobel Prize winning nun would be beatified. 
"There's evidence she could be declared a saint. I'm sure it (beatification) will happen," D'Souza said. "Given the nature of the case and how well known Mother Teresa is, it may be possible to beatify her faster. It depends on the Roman congregation." 
Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, at Skopje, Macedonia came to India in May 1937 to teach at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta. 
She was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1979 for her work among the needy in Calcutta, her adopted home town from where she ran the worldwide order, Missionaries of Charity, she founded 52 years ago with 12 members. 
The order had established itself in 123 countries with 4,000 members by 1997. 



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