Pope clears way for Mother Teresa to become saint

  • 19/12/2015
Mother Teresa (Reuters)
Mother Teresa (Reuters)

Pope Francis has cleared the way for Mother Teresa to become a saint. Today, the Catholic Church credited her with a second medical miracle.

She'll be canonised late next year, but it won't be without controversy.

To millions of Christians around the world she is seen a charitable heroine. To many others she is an ultra-conservative Catholic who was too close to the status quo.

But today, the Church cleared the way for Mother Teresa to be officially elevated to sainthood.

Mother Teresa was born as Agnes Boyaju in 1910 in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia.

In her late teens, she moved to Ireland and then India, and later founded the Missionaries of Charity – a religious congregation with 4500 members across 133 countries.

It runs hospices for people with serious diseases, as well as helping some of the poorest in society.

In 1979 she won the Nobel Peace Price. She died in 1997 in Kolkata, where she was granted a state funeral, despite the controversy surrounding her.

In life, the Vatican made her the face of its humanitarianism. In death, they are making her a saint.

But, as Oscar Wilde said, every saint has a past.

Watch the video for the full ITV News report.