Agnes Gonjxa Bojaxhiu of Skopje, Macedonia, became Saint Teresa of Calcutta on September 4, after Pope Francis proclaimed her a saint in front of a massive crowd in the Vatican City. "For the honour of the Blessed Trinity, the exaltation of the Catholic faith... we declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint and we enrol her among the Saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as much by the whole Church."
Several Catholics, including hundreds of blue and white-robed nuns from the Missionaries of Charity, the sisterhood founded by Mother Teresa, came from across the world to attend the canonization of the church's newest saint, 19 years after her death.
A Nobel Peace laureate, Mother Teresa worked with the neediest in slums of Kolkata, and helped shed light in the darkest of places. The Pope called her a "dispenser of divine mercy" and held world powers to account "for the crimes of poverty they created." He said, "For Mother Teresa, mercy was the salt which gave flavour to her work, it was the light which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering." In his speech the Pope called her an "emblematic figure of womanhood and of consecrated life."
"Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded. She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity. She made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognise their guilt for the crime of poverty they created." He concluded by saying, that people may "struggle" to refer to her as "Saint Teresa". "With great spontaneity, I think we will continue to call her Mother Teresa."
Prayers were later delivered in a number of languages, including Mother Teresa's native tongue Albanian, and Bengali. Over 1,500 homeless people all across Italy were given seats of honour at the Mass, and served lunch by nuns.
