September 6, 2016

The Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa was canonized (formally declared) a saint on Sunday, September 4, one day before the 19^th anniversary of her death in 1997. Tens of thousands of faithful attended the canonization service led by Pope Francis outside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Francis praised the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Teresa, saying she embodied the ideal of a “poor church for the poor.” Sometimes referred to as the saint of the gutters, Teresa founded a religious order (community) in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, called the Missionaries of Charity. The order provides food and services for the needy.

Mother Teresa cradles an armless baby girl at her order’s orphanage in Calcutta, India, in 1978. A champion among the poor, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 17, 1979. Credit: © AP Photo

Mother Teresa’s original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was born on Aug. 27, 1910, in what is now Skopje, Macedonia. In 1928, she joined a religious order, which sent her to India. She took the name Teresa after joining the order. A few years later, she began teaching in Calcutta. In 1948, the Catholic Church granted her permission to leave her convent and work among the city’s poor people. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950.

Mother Teresa received numerous awards for her work with the needy. These awards include the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, which she received in 1971; India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, given to her in 1972; the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize; and honorary U.S. citizenship, given to her in 1996. She died on Sept. 5, 1997. In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa. Beatification is an important step toward declaring an individual a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

A saint is a holy person who exemplifies a virtue or virtues of his or her religion. The word comes from the Latin word sanctus, meaning a holy one. Teresa was the 29^th saint canonized since Francis became pope in 2013. Among these new saints are Franciscan missionary Junípero Serra and John Paul II.

Present Roman Catholic procedures of canonization were officially established between the late 1500′s and the mid-1600′s. A commission appointed by the church strictly examines the subject’s life and works and any miracles associated with the person. If the investigation produces enough evidence, the person is eligible for beatification. That is, he or she may officially be declared “blessed.” If further investigation produces proof of two miracles associated with the person, he or she may be canonized as a saint.

February 28, 2013

Benedict XVI formally abdicates as pope of the Roman Catholic Church and left the Vatican for Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence southeast of Rome. Before leaving, he met with the College of Cardinals and promised “unconditional obedience and reverence” to his eventual successor.

An estimated 150,000 people packed into St. Peter’s Square yesterday to attend Benedict’s final general audience. He stated that his papacy had been “a heavy burden,” but he accepted that burden as God’s will. He has, in his nearly eight years in office, known “moments of joy and light but also moments that were not easy” when it seemed “the Lord was sleeping.” He asked the more than 1 billion Roman Catholics throughout the world to pray for him “and for the new pope.”

Benedict XVI blesses a crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. (© Arturo Mari, Getty Images)

Benedict’s papacy was often mired in controversy. An ever-expanding clerical sex abuse scandal undermined his status as a highly regarded teacher and theologian. Vatican investigations into women’s religious orders in the United States angered many American Catholics.  Vatican officials voiced concern over the adherence of American nuns to church doctrine, in particular their advocating for political action, for the ordination of women, and for greater acceptance of homosexuals.

Benedict XVI will eventually retire–”hidden to the world” in his words–to a former convent within the Vatican. On March 4, the College of Cardinals will meet in a general congregation to set a date for the start of a conclave to elect Benedict’s successor. The electors consist of 115 cardinals (those cardinals younger than 80 years old), 67 of whom were appointed by Benedict XVI and the rest by his predecessor John Paul II.

Additional World Book articles:

• Pope
• Roman Catholic Church 2006 (a Back in Time article)
• Roman Catholic Church 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• John Paul II 1920-2005 (a special report)