Mother Teresa to be made saint of Roman Catholic Church

Vatican City: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Nobel laureate who dedicated her life to helping the poorest of the poor, will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in September 2016, an Italian Catholic newspaper reported on Thursday.

Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian Catholic bishops conference, said on its website that Pope Francis had earlier on Thursday approved a decree recognising a miracle attributed to her intercession with God.

Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 at the age of 87, was beatified in 2003 by the late Pope John Paul. Beatification, which requires one miracle, is the last step before sainthood.

Avvenire said the second miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother Teresa, which is required for canonisation, involved the inexplicable healing of a man who was suffering from a deadly brain disease.

Family members prayed to Mother Teresa and he recovered, leaving doctors at a loss to explain how, the newspaper said.

A Vatican spokesman said he had no information about the report.

The paper, which has been well informed about similar stories in the past, said the pope would most likely hold a canonisation ceremony for Mother Teresa in early September.

Mother Teresa was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents in Macedonia in 1910 in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

She founded the Missionaries of Charity to help the poor on the streets of Calcutta and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.