Pope Francis proclaimed Mother Teresa of Calcutta a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, 19 years after her death.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims had flocked to St Peter’s Square for the Mass and canonisation.Two miraculous cures of the sick after Mother Teresa’s death in 1997 have been attributed to her intercession.
Her legacy complements Pope Francis’s vision of a humble church that strives to serve the poor, and the festivities are a highlight of his Holy Year of Mercy, which runs until November 8.
Millions of Catholics revere her as a model of compassion, and the Vatican could easily have issued double the number of tickets but for space and security restrictions.
Among the assembled crowd were 1,500 poor people looked after by the Italian branches of Teresa’s order, the Missionaries of Charity.
In India, a special Mass was celebrated at the Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in Kolkata.
