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First nuns of Mother Teresa arrive for beatification
Rome, Oct 13: Nuns belonging to Mother Teresa`s Missionaries of Charity began arriving in Rome today for the ceremony to beatify her on Sunday.
Rome, Oct 13: Nuns belonging to Mother Teresa's
Missionaries of Charity began arriving in Rome today for the
ceremony to beatify her on Sunday.
One group arrived from Mumbai and New Delhi, wearing
their traditional blue-edged white saris, while a second flew
in from Atlanta in the United States accompanied by the
Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, Belgian Cardinal
Jan Pieter Schotte.
The committee organising the event expects more than 200,000 people, 80 percent of them Italian, to gather at the Vatican for the occasion which will be presided over by Pope John Paul II.
Mother Teresa was born to Albanian parents in 1910 and after taking her vows as a nun moved to India and spent almost half a century ministering to dying destitutes in Kolkata.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she died in 1997 after seeing her missionaries of charity order expand its activities to 500 centres in 132 countries.
The beatification of Mother Teresa, a first step towards canonisation, will be another test of the health of the frail 83-year-old Pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and arthritis. The ceremony is due to last three hours.
The Italian authorities are mounting a major operation for the beatification, as they did for the canonisations in 2002 of the venerated Italian priest Padre Pio and the Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, who founded the powerful Catholic Opus Dei organisation.
Bureau Report
The committee organising the event expects more than 200,000 people, 80 percent of them Italian, to gather at the Vatican for the occasion which will be presided over by Pope John Paul II.
Mother Teresa was born to Albanian parents in 1910 and after taking her vows as a nun moved to India and spent almost half a century ministering to dying destitutes in Kolkata.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she died in 1997 after seeing her missionaries of charity order expand its activities to 500 centres in 132 countries.
The beatification of Mother Teresa, a first step towards canonisation, will be another test of the health of the frail 83-year-old Pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and arthritis. The ceremony is due to last three hours.
The Italian authorities are mounting a major operation for the beatification, as they did for the canonisations in 2002 of the venerated Italian priest Padre Pio and the Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, who founded the powerful Catholic Opus Dei organisation.
Bureau Report