Pope credits Mother Teresa with miracle

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | December 21, 2002 | Nicole Winfield

[heyheyhey]

Pope credits Mother Teresa with miracle

December 21, 2002

BY NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY--Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun who spent much of her life caring for the poor of Calcutta's slums, moved a step closer to sainthood Friday when Pope John Paul II approved a miracle credited to her intercession.

With the miracle, Mother Teresa will be beatified in a ceremony scheduled for Oct. 19 in Rome, her order said. The date is the Catholic Church's Mission Sunday, and the Sunday closest to the 25th anniversary of John Paul's election as pope.

John Paul, who has elevated more than 460 people to sainthood in his 24 years as pope, has long held the nun in high esteem.

He waived the customary five-year waiting period and began the process that can lead to sainthood just a year after Mother Teresa died in 1997 at age 87. A second miracle is required for sainthood.

Nuns at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity house in Calcutta, India, rejoiced Friday at word a miracle had been approved and passed out candies to about 100 orphans to celebrate.

''The mood is joyous. It's great news for us,'' said Sister Priscilla. ''This is something very special, not only to India, but to the whole world.''

The pope gave his approval to the miracle--as well as 13 others for other saintly candidates--in a solemn ceremony in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, outlined Mother Teresa's ''heroic virtues'' to the pope, calling her work with the poor in Calcutta's slums a ''world emblem of Christian charity.''

A ''vast movement'' in support of society's most marginalized was launched by her example, he said.

The miracle attributed to Mother Teresa's intercession involves the recovery of a young Indian woman, Monica Besra, who had a stomach tumor.

Her recovery, after an image of Mother Teresa was placed on her stomach, was judged to be without any medical explanation by a panel of doctors consulted by the Vatican.

But doctors who work for the state of West Bengal, of which Calcutta is the capital, have challenged the Church's claim that Besra was cured only by the image.

The state health department says Besra was treated with medicine to cure a form of meningitis and an ovarian tumor. They would not say what medicine they gave her.

AP

[heyheyhey]

FYI

[Siobhan]

Ping for our beloved Mother Teresa of the Poor

[Siobhan]

Another ping for our beloved Mother Teresa of the Poor.

[Conservative til I die]

God bless Mother Teresa and the Pope.

[Desdemona]

Beloved Mother Teresa Bump!

[Coleus]

The state health department says Besra was treated with medicine to cure a form of meningitis and an ovarian tumor. They would not say what medicine they gave her. >>>>

Yes, where is this miracle medicine? Let us in on the secret here in the USA and the rest of the world on how to eliminate ovarian tumors.

[Saint Athanasius]

Amen to that!

[Siobhan]

Beloved Mother Teresa BUMP!

[drstevej]

***Yes, where is this miracle medicine? Let us in on the secret here in the USA and the rest of the world on how to eliminate ovarian tumors. ***

I agree and perhaps we need to manufacture some Mother Teresa cumberbuns, too. :0)

[heyheyhey]

...perhaps we need to manufacture some Mother Teresa cumberbuns, too. :0)

They even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.

Acts 5:15

So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

Acts 19:11-12

Pretty old that Catholic Tradition ;-)

[Salvation]

BTTT

[wai-ming]

IMO, Mother Teresa is already a saint. I think she would find the whole "beatification" process amusing.

First, there is that five year waiting period, but in her case, they make an exception and put her on the "fast track" to sainthood. Then, they have to prove to the pope that she took part in two miracles. A mere "image" of Mother Teresa was all it took for a woman in India to be cured. One down, one more to go! People all over the world must be watching and waiting, hoping that "their" miracle, attributed to Mother Teresa, is the the one that puts her over the top.

Go Mother Teresa! One more miracle. We're rootin' for you! Our wish'll make it official!

[RnMomof7]

This is a woman that said in her diaries that she was not sure God existed and she and her fellow sisters told the hindi to pray to their gods before they died ...this is not the stuff of a saved person (that is what the bible refers to as a Saint)

She was a nice compassionate lady..but not necessarily saved..maybe but not for sure..

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Oh if we were only to know the thoughts you had in 1958 or that rattle around inside your grape this very day.

Mother Teresa's salvation is much less in doubt than your own.

[RobbyS]

In our parish, a young man with acute leukemia, nmot expected to live, has had a sudden and totally unexpected remission. His fellow Knights attibute it to prayer with the special invocation of Father McGivney. Rather stunning result. Power of prayer.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I doubt any Christian would doubt the power of prayer. I have a friends whose mother has conjestive heart failure and is on a heart transplant list. We have prayed, especially her family that the damage done to her own heart would not worsen until a heart can be found. The damage that is done was the kind that doctors said would not get better, but it would only get worse. Her last visit to the doctor showed that not only was the deterioration stopped but her heart HAD improved to the point that even if it takes a while she will be fine with no transplant. Prayer by people no more "special" in the eyes of men then you or I:)

Becky

[RobbyS]

We should always keep in mind the power of prayer not only in private concerns but in the fate of nations. I can still remember hearing President Roosevelt's prayer at the time of the Normandy invasion. When agnostics demand the end of public prayer, especially in the legislatures where it is traditional, they want us all to deny--contrary to the personal conviction of the great majority of Americans, that God is bnot watching over us and judging us. Let them keep their necks stiff then prayers of offered. Don't demand that we join them. In time they will know why.

[Gophack]

Bump for Mother Teresa. May God bless the poor and impovrished that they may see the kingdom of God.