The Hindu : National : "Mother Teresa's sainthood will not be affected if Pope dies"

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Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

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"Mother Teresa's sainthood will not be affected if Pope dies"

KOLKATA, APRIL 2. The Missionaries of Charity today said that the Pope's death would not affect the process of conferring sainthood on the order's founder, Mother Teresa.

"Mother's canonisation [sainthood] is God's work. If she has to be canonised, she will be canonised. The Holy Father will pray [for her canonisation] from heaven," Sister Nirmala, Mother Teresa's successor as the superior general of the Missionaries of Charity, said here.

Stating that she had met the Pope a number of times, "both with and without Mother Teresa," Sister Nirmala said: "He appreciates our work. For us, he is like a father and we are all his children."

Pope John Paul-II, one of the longest-reigning pontiffs in the Church who canonised a record number of saints in a bid to create more role models for the faithful, had put Mother Teresa on the fast track to sainthood by waiving the mandatory five-year waiting period after her death on September 5, 1997. The Pope beatified her in October 2003 on the basis of a controversial `miracle,' moving her to the threshold of canonisation that requires evidence of another miracle.

About the Pope's condition, Sister Nirmala said: "It is a feeling of sorrow, deep sorrow, because the Holy Father is leaving the people. At the same time, there is great joy for the beautiful life he had lived — a life of total surrender and trust in God ... He is Jesus to us."

Sister Nirmala added that she was "optimistic" about death, "because it opens the gates of heaven. The Holy Father is now [at] the door to heaven." — PTI

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