Mother Teresa proclaimed saint before huge crowds in Vatican

PanARMENIAN.Net - Pope Francis proclaimed Mother Teresa a saint on Sunday, September 4 bestowing the Catholic Church’s highest honor on one of the most widely admired public figures in recent history, the Wall Street Journal reports.

In a unifying gesture, the pope highlighted aspects of the new saint’s legacy appealing to opposite sides of a fractious divide: Catholics who champion traditional moral teachings and those focused on economic justice. Pope Francis presented Mother Teresa’s opposition to abortion and her dedication to the poor as facets of a single mission.

The canonization ceremony took place under a broiling sun before a crowd of 120,000 in St. Peter’s Square, according to Vatican estimates. Behind the pope, on the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica, hung a banner-size portrait of Mother Teresa, one of the late 20th century’s most recognizable faces.

Born to an ethnic Albanian family in what is now Macedonia, the diminutive Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 with 12 followers in Kolkata, India. The order now runs hospices, homeless shelters and other services for the destitute in 139 countries.

In his homily, Pope Francis recalled the new saint as “committed to defending life, ceaselessly proclaiming that the unborn are the weakest, the smallest, the most vulnerable.” But he also said she confronted the “powers of this world” with “their guilt for the crime of poverty they created.”