Pope changes mind on Mother Teresa

Most of the world suspected that in the end Pope John Paul II couldn't keep the sainthood rules intact for Mother Teresa. After all, most of the world had declared her a saint even before her 1997 death. So the world got to work letting the Pope know it would be okay to ease the regulations.
After an outpouring of requests from around the globe, the Pope has lifted the usual five-year waiting period for beginning a sainthood cause. That allows a diocesan investigation into Mother Teresa's life to begin immediately. As far as anyone at the Vatican knows, it is the first time such an exception has been made.
Shortly after Mother Teresa's death in September 1997, the Pope said it was "necessary to follow the normal way" of pursuing sainthood causes, even in her case. But he changed his mind, in part because people from many countries and walks of life wrote to the Vatican to support sainthood for Mother Teresa. Said a Vatican spokesman: "There was just a massive, spontaneous response on the part of all sorts of people at every level of society, both inside and outside the Church. There has been no other case like it."
The five-year waiting period, intended as a cooling-off time, was established to make sure there is a true reputation of holiness before the Church begins the massive undertaking of a sainthood cause. But Mother Teresa was someone who "had a reputation for holiness throughout her life," said one Vatican official.
Even with the dispensation, reports Catholic News Service, the road to sainthood may not be short for Mother Teresa. Local Church experts and Vatican officials will have to examine the documentation and testimony available. Because she was an international figure who founded a religious order and established centers and hospitals all over the globe, there is a lot of evidence to consider. The sainthood process involves several steps:
* Declaration of a person's heroic virtues, * Beatification, in which a person is declared "blessed" following certification of a miracle attributed to his or her intercession, and
* Canonization after another certified miracle, in which the Church declares that the person's life is worthy of honor and imitation by all the faithful.
We wonder if the Pope will be called as witness in Mother Teresa's favor. Since her death, he has cited her several times as a model of holiness in action. In a talk just last Saturday, he said that Mother Teresa, along with many saints through the centuries, had given the kind of care and attention needed by people who are dying.
Thanks to the outpouring of love from around the world, it won't be long before the Pope can refer to "Mother Teresa and other saints."

(03-04-99)

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